George W. Bush as a failed war President

If John Kerry wants to win this election — and there’s some evidence that he really, really does — then he really, really needs to get his speechwriters to read this analysis by Matt Yglesias of why George W. Bush has been such a terrible war President.

Kerry’s trying: his speech to the Firefighters, which the White House managed to step on with its silly demand that Kerry unmask the foreign leaders who have told him privately they’d like to see him win, was largely about Bush’s failures in the War on Terror. Or at least so the press coverage would suggest; the Kerry website doesn’t seem to have the full text of his remarks.

I’m hoping the lines “big on bluster and short on action” and “I do not fault George Bush for doing too much in the war on terror, I believe he’s done too little” get to be part of the Kerry stump speech, and that one of the early Kerry ads will go hard at Bush on this issue. Now that Bush has an add suggesting that Kerry’s vote against giving the President an $87 billion blank check to implement his non-plan in Iraq was a vote not to support the troops there, it’s past time for the gloves to come off.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

One thought on “George W. Bush as a failed war President”

  1. It takes more than decisiveness

    Mark A. R. Kleiman says: But some of us dislike George W. Bush largely because he has proven to be such an inept war President. I wouldn't say that I dislike George Bush — in fact as I have said

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