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The Absence Of (proof)

The most incredulous part of the finale of the Bush presidency has to be the argument that his crowning achievement was "keeping us safe."

The idea that the absence of something happening is proof he did a good job is completely absurd.

In his tenure, we also did not have an ice age, a meteor destroy Earth, or Mel Gibson finally attack. Yet we rightly do not credit him for these things not happening either.

There has been no attack like 9/11 on US soil before, yet no other president has stood up and taken credit for what has not happened.

George Bush did more to alienate the rest of the world than any president in the last hundred years. He singlehandedly antagonized our enemies, and ostracized our friends.

One cannot help but be reminded when he tells us he "kept us safe," that he presided over the embarrassing response (or lack thereof) during Katrina. He barely found the time to fly over the chaos days laster, and left our fellow Americans to suffer.

The downfall of every great civilization in history has been the hubris of believing that they were invincible. Every day, the world grows smaller, and more interdependent.

I sincerely hope our new president will focus on repairing relationships with humility and transparency.

January 19, 2009 | Permalink

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