Soapbox

The current residents at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. have been blaming Bill Clinton for everything from 9/11 to iron-poor blood for so many years now that you’ve just come to expect it.  High gas prices? Clinton did it. Hurricane Katrina?  ~Yawn~  Bill’s fault.

But did you catch the White House blaming Bush 41 for the troubles in Iraq? The new trial balloon is that if Bush Senior had just kept after him when he had Sadaam on the run instead of sticking to his UN mandated mission in Kuwait during the first Gulf War, Gulf 2 wouldn’t  be “necessary”. Really!

Of course, every single negative consequence that his father’s administration listed as reasons why they did not invade Iraq has come to pass with a vengeance since Bush 43 invaded. The security of not just Iraq but the entire middle-east hangs by a thread since he when blundering ahead and did what his father felt was too dangerous to do. So what exactly are they blaming him for: being right?

What’s the problem guys: Clinton -blaming isn’t getting enough traction any more to overcome your massive failure to predict the outcome of anything you do? What will you do if blaming George Bush’s own dad doesn’t bring Junior’s ratings up enough? Will you try blaming Saint Ronald Reagan next, or just will skip on back and pass the buck to the Carter administration? Why stop there? Heck- if Kennedy hadn’t been too chicken to pull the trigger during the missiles of October, maybe America wouldn’t have to be in Iraq today! (Maybe America wouldn’t exist today, but that’s just a silly little detail)

Still, blaming the old man can backfireI can’t help but wonder if it isn’t going to be a tad bit awkward around the Bush family dinner table this Thanksgiving. Junior and Laura might want to skip that invitation this year.

But maybe they have a point. In retrospect, it was pretty short-sighted for George H.W. Bush to value “stability over form of government” and to worry his little head about destabilizing the entire region by invading Iraq. Stability, after all, is highly overrated. Just ask the people who haven’t had decent health care or even reliable electricity for 3 years, who have no jobs, are afraid to send their kids to school or even attend the mosque because they have had friends and family members killed in the completely unstable, chaotic, sham democracy  we have given Iraq. I’m sure they wouldn’t kill for a little stability these days, no. They probably value “form of government” very highly.

So don’t worry George- nothing is your fault. No, really,- we’re happy to blame your dad instead of you for what you mess up. You just go ride your bike and have a nice day.