[Error: unknown template qotd]
Must agree with nyghtshayde. The list is rather large. But we have to start somewhere, so...
- Obviously, Iraq. If nothing else, Bush will be remembered for lying to the American public and breaking international law so he could avenge his daddy and get all that precious, precious oil for his oil corp buddies. Never mind the body count, American or Iraqi, never mind the atrocities committed, never mind the mental breakdowns of the people who do get out of there alive -- the CEO of Exxon wants another private jet!
- Corruption on a massive scale. It seemed like every day there was another scandal unfolding. Like those Justice attorneys who were fired for political reasons. Or the atrocities committed by Blackwater overseas and never called to account. No-bid contracts in Iraq. Large amounts of cash disappearing from the Federal Reserve.
- Injecting religion into politics. "God told me to invade Iraq", he said. He let Christian missionaries run rampant in the military proselytizing new recruits while denying designs on headstones for troops who had fallen because they were pagan. Faith-based charities. The Global Gag Rule. The recent HHS rules allowing doctors to deny care based on their religious beliefs.
- Overall, I will remember George W. Bush for being our first fascist president. A large security apparat, spying on citizens' phone calls with the help of AT&T and Verizon, The USA PATRIOT Act, Guantanamo Bay, secret prisons, torture, the suspension of habeas corpus, creative uses of the phrase "enemy combatant", denial of legal counsel at trial, the gradual shredding of the Constitution...the list, as I have said before, goes on.
I have few illusions that Barack Obama will make make right what wrongs Bush accomplished while in office. He has already shown a disturbing tendency to bow to corporate interests, and this is before the lobbyists are banging on his door (and the doors of his friends in Congress). Better than McCain? Yes, but that's not exactly phenomenal; we need a good president rather than a better one, and I fear that Obama won't be a good president.