The Legacy of George W. Bush

One wonders how the forthcoming books discussing the presidency of Mr. Bush will be titled.

I do have a suggestion:

That Bastard in the White House
The Illegitimate President: George W. Bush (2001-2009)

It will, of course, look in great detail upon events in the State of Florida, from the pre-election activities of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, at the design of voter ballots in that state, examine charges of voter intimidation, voter "caging," the riots staged by then Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas at vote counting sites, the Florida Supreme Court, the election-surge led by Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the interests of Mr. Bush, a one-time ruling applicable to no other candidate, no other election.

There have already been a number of books published about Florida and the 2000 presidential election, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast, The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President by Vincent Bugliosi, Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000 by Alan Dershowitz, Too Close to Call: The Thirty-Six Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election by Jeffrey Toobin, among others, surely to be cited in the bibliography of this book.

But then, there is the larger matter, the presidency and the administration of it itself. It may take several years for the dust to settle on the various chapters, for sound analysis. So many things: Iraq, Dick Cheney, the politicization of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Unitary Executive Theory of the Presidency engendered by Sam Alito (rewarded with a position on the U.S. Supreme Court), Katrina, the failure to secure national security, the deliberate dismantling of America's infrastructure, the destruction of the U.S. military forces, the gross betrayal of military veterans returning from Iraq, the Neo-Con movement and their imperialist Project for the New American Century, so much to write about, the next ten years are going to be very interesting as Bush's administration is discussed and reviewed.

The question remains, however: Will America learn any lasting lessons from the horrible mistakes made in elections in 2000 and 2004?