The latest polls are now putting Bush’s approval south of 30%, not far from the level at which things around Nixon collapsed. Further erosion of support at these levels must inevitably reflect “buyer’s remorse” among those who actually voted for or at least tolerated Bush rather than his natural detractors who hate his guts. Despite Karl Rove’s best (possibly even illegal) PR efforts, he never managed to coat his masterpiece with the Cambellesque patina of a hero that always lives to fight again. Bush will not have a second act and like Paris Hilton may not avoid prison. But he will almost surely remain to most of the world a dyslexic rich kid who simplified the most intractable of issues down to pre-school explanations, complete with the intonation and hand gestures. Which is not a good thing. As the Portuguese thinker Boaventura de Sousa Santos notes, epistemicide often foreshadows genocide.
There’s not much to be gained by kicking the guy when he’s down. Indeed, Bush is not just down, he’s radioactive, as evidenced by the recent efforts of Republican presidential aspirants to put as much distance between W and themselves. Even the appellation “Worst President in History” has little meaning, unless you somehow feel it important to redeem James Buchanan’s legacy.
So we’ve decided our blogging efforts are best spent elsewhere, like saving the forests in Finland, commenting on local media, promoting account-based derivatives trading systems and low-carbon travel. Have a nice summer, George.
