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God save the U.S. from the Bush/Clinton curse

CAUTION: The following could make you even more depressed about the state of American politics.

By PHILIP GAILEY
Published October 16, 2005

We've had four years of George H.W. Bush, eight years of Bill Clinton, and, by the time his second term ends on Jan. 20, 2009, we will have had eight years of George W. Bush. That adds up to 20 uninterrupted years of Bush-Clinton alternations in the White House. And who knows when it will end?

Hillary Clinton has her eyes on the prize in 2008, and conservative Republicans have all but anointed Jeb Bush as their presidential candidate if and when he decides to run. So it's possible, though not likely, we could see another eight years of a Clinton presidency followed by another eight years of a Bush presidency.

Think about it - that would mean a Bush or a Clinton occupied the White House for 36 consecutive years, from 1989 to 2025. Take Jeb Bush out of the equation and give Hillary Clinton two terms in the White House and you would still have 28 years of Bush and Clinton presidencies.

The Queen can take care of herself. God save the United States of America. Isn't there a Kennedy out there who could deliver us from this dynastic curse?

Hillary Clinton is the early frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, and I can see her going all the way to the White House, where she used to be first lady. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he has no intention of trying to become his brother's successor, and I believe him. Hillary is running for the same reason Jeb is not - George W. Bush has made a huge mess of things.

Democrats see Bush's failures as their opportunity to take back the White House. As things now stand, Jeb Bush may figure that it will be a long time, if ever, before voters will want to see his family name on another presidential ballot. He may be right.

With more than three years left in his second term, President Bush is likely to spend much of that time engaged in damage control trying to manage the problems he created in his first term, from the war in Iraq to runaway spending at home.

Bush's poll numbers have gone from bad to worse, and the White House's vaunted spin machine has been unable to reverse the president's loss of public support. In the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, Bush's approval rating is at 38 percent, an all-time low. And 41 percent say Bush will be viewed as an unsuccessful president.

Popular support for the war in Iraq is collapsing, and the administration's bungling in that country has proliferated the threat of murderous jihadism spreading in the Middle East. The president's policy agenda, including Social Security reform, is in tatters. According to the polls, a majority of Americans believes his policies have made things worse at home and abroad.

Bush is dangerously close to losing the moral authority a president needs to lead. After the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and other U.S. military prisons, Bush is threatening to veto legislation barring the mistreatment or torture of detainees. The measure, sponsored by Republican Sen. John McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, passed the Senate by a vote of 90 to 9. What is the world to make of an American president who defends torture?

Meanwhile, the stench of scandal is rising on Capitol Hill, where Tom DeLay, the House Republican leader, has been indicted on charges of money laundering and Bill Frist, the Senate Republican leader, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Karl Rove, the president's "indispensable man," testified before a grand jury for the fourth time on Friday. It is possible that Rove and other administration officials could be indicted in the CIA leak case. Bush's nomination of White House lawyer Harriet Miers for a U.S. Supreme Court seat has fractured the party's conservative base, and even some Republicans are appalled by the incompetence and cronyism that has been exposed in this administration.

Bush's presidency appears to be adrift. Despite the disarray, however, it would be a mistake to count him out. Other presidents have rebounded from second-term woes, and Bush could, too. Whatever happens, many Americans are looking forward to the day Bush leaves office, even if it means the Clintons could be moving back into the White House they tarnished not so long ago.

[Last modified October 14, 2005, 21:14:02]