By J. Randolph Evans

The moment finally came.
No one can credibly blame President George W. Bush. No matter how hard they try, or how convoluted their logic, there is simply no way to blame President Bush for the earthquake in Japan, the tsunami that followed, or the bombings in Libya.
Increasingly, it is clear that the mounting federal debt from growing federal deficits comes from spending that post-dated the Bush Administration. These are not George W. Bush’s budgets. The lingering economic slowdown with its continuing high unemployment does not remain because George W. Bush is the President. The upward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on the value of the U.S. dollar comes from money printed since 2008.
As bad as Americans thought things were in 2008, they are rapidly figuring out that things could get worse and most believe they have. The President who promised change delivered, and it has not been so good.

Most Americans now agree (regardless of political party affiliation) that the country is headed in the wrong direction. In fact, according to the latest polls, over 60% of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. Americans have good reason for thinking so.

The federal government teeters on the verge of shutdown, surviving literally from debt extension to debt extension. Rising gas prices threaten even the most modest of recoveries with the increasing uncertainty about the stability of oil producing countries due to escalating civil unrest.

Japan, the world’s third largest economy, is in shambles. No one can really imagine the devastation that has occurred in Japan. Over 11,000 people are confirmed dead with another 16,000 missing. The total damage will exceed $300 billion. The impact on the global economy will be big.

Of course, no one yet knows how Egypt will turn out. Should the Muslim Brotherhood emerge as the dominant political force, things will get worse quickly.

Then, the world is at war with Libya and some believe Libya might be winning.

Meanwhile, offshore drilling has been almost shut down by Obama because of the BP oil spill, while new concerns emerge from the nuclear fallout in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
American soldiers are stretched thin (very thin) from two ongoing wars, and a third war in the making. Meanwhile, the U.S. military continues to serve as a worldwide relief organization helping people near and far as natural and man-made disasters happen.
Open revolt simmers in individual states around the country as governors work to solve decades-old problems that threaten their future. In Wisconsin, legislators hide from their jobs while unions riot in the state capitol building. Nationalized political armies gear up to fight every dispute on the airwaves and in the streets.
The Congress has stalemated with little hope of meaningful progress toward solving any of the country’s problems. Neither the U.S. House nor the U.S. Senate appears interested in actually doing anything.
Instead, there is a perpetual stare-down as politicians prepare for the next election. Is anyone really surprised that 70% of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing?
The President’s healthcare legislation languishes in the courts as government lawyers try to slow resolution until it is too late.

Meanwhile, many of the provisions on which most everyone agrees have become casualties of a political stalemate between each of the three
branches of government.
Internationally, U.S. foreign policy is a confused mess at best. A good illustration is Libya, where there is no risk of a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner. Why not? Because no one actually knows what the mission is. The White House insists that Libyan leader Khadafy has lost all legitimacy to rule but the military attacks are not about him.
Fortunately, Khadafy does not actually have weapons of mass destruction, but it does raise the specter of how things would be different if he
did. Of course, this all illustrates why it is so important that Iran does not. How odd is it that a country attacking its own people triggers international intervention, but a country that says Israel should be wiped from the face of the Earth does not?
The President appears on television to explain it all, but no one knows what he has said after he says it. His lips are moving and he sounds
really good, but none of it actually makes any sense.

 

Recently, a talk show host challenged listeners to call and name something good that is happening. The few callers he got only complained about how bad things were.

There is almost a sense that everything must wait until the next election when the American people will give some direction regarding where to go from here. Unfortunately, at the rate things are going, the country, indeed the world, may not be able to wait that long.