Reflecting on Bush

George W Bush's biggest failure as a President was in allowing the outrage over 9/11 to shape his policies over the subsequent years of his presidency.  His obsession with the "war" on terror prevented him from fully engaging with domestic policies.  Other than No Child Left Behind, I cannot name a single, major domestic policy initiative of his.  

9/11 was a horrible even, and none say otherwise.  But the reaction to it, especially from the Executive Branch, was completely unbalanced.  Going to Afghanistan was a good thing, as that is where the attacks had been planned, and that is where the attackers had refuge.  

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.  Yet the country, once a close ally, was turned upside down over the false information (lie?) that weapons of mass destruction (WMD's) were hiding in the desert sands.  They weren't.  Bush should have listened to the UN weapon inspectors from the beginning.  Sure, Saddam Hussein laughed at Bush and our country, but he was never a serious threat.  At least we knew who he was; unlike the faceless enemies that replaced him.  His threat to the US was akin to someone throwing an egg at your house.  And instead of yelling at them, or calling the police (the UN), you went outside with a shotgun and unloaded.  That's what the Iraq war is.

I had nothing to do with 9/11.  Yet I have to show ID and take off my shoes to get on and airplane, and so do many others who are either patriotic Americans or harmless visitors to this country.

The Department of Homeland Security was created, a bureaucracy to manage bureaucracies.  It introduced the color coded terror threat, which has not changed in quite some time.  So is the DHS even effective?  

Back to Bush.   He definitely got more than he signed up for.  And the team he had in place at the beginning only took him further down the road of paranoia.  

Thankfully our next president is much more of a cool customer who will think before pushing that big red button.