Bush is taking a bit of a beating in the press today. Better late than never...
In the Washington Post, Douglas Brinkley writes that "the problem for Bush is that certitude is only a virtue if the policy enacted is proven correct" but then plants his lips firmly on the president's butt when he concludes (presumably to keep his White House press pass):
I also believe that he is an honest man and that his administration has been largely void of widespread corruption. This will help him from being portrayed as a true villain.
Huh?! Largely void of widespread corruption? Brinkley goes down in flames. (Didn't Brinkley also do a glossy book about post-Katrina which completely missed the point?)
Meanwhile, Michael Lind comes up with "5th worst" -- though it seems to me the international-size horrors Bush has committed make Buchanan's and Andrew Johnson's errors seem very pale in comparison.
I guess Vincent Cannato's plea for a little historical distance is fair in the abstract, but reading his justifications for saying that only history can judge W runs counter to his contention that we won't necessarily have a grim future as a result.
Eric Foner's temperate argument for Bush being the worst president ever is more succinct and convincing even though he only addresses the domestic Bush:
He has sought to strip people accused of crimes of rights that date as far back as the Magna Carta in Anglo-American jurisprudence: trial by impartial jury, access to lawyers and knowledge of evidence against them. In dozens of statements when signing legislation, he has asserted the right to ignore the parts of laws with which he disagrees. His administration has adopted policies regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that have disgraced the nation and alienated virtually the entire world. Usually, during wartime, the Supreme Court has refrained from passing judgment on presidential actions related to national defense. The court's unprecedented rebukes of Bush's policies on detainees indicate how far the administration has strayed from the rule of law.
