US foreign policy milestone
Today marks one of the most significant points in recent US history, and an event that has largely been overlooked due to the current economic crisis.
Geronimo!
The Independent’s Big Question carries a feature on an intriguing and beguiling piece of Americana.
read more...»US revision: comparing civil liberties
Anyone looking at synoptic questions about the ability of the UK and US political systems to uphold civil liberties may wish to consider this story.
read more...»What about ‘W’?
What is the ex-Prez up to these days?
“They misunderestimated me.”
Continuing the Bush focus (we will really miss him when he’s gone, and it will be difficult to believe he really was president for 8 years), here is a link to a BBC feature on Bushisms, those verbal dyslexia moments when 43 was unable to say what he meant.
There is a special section on Bush in the G2 section of today’s Grauniad. This is the web edition link. The print edition has a cut and keep Bush mask. Scary
Evaluating the Bush presidency
Further to an earlier posting by a fellow blogger about Bush’s legacy, I would draw your attention to a rather good article from US News.
It starts by noting how introspective the 43rd president has become in the fag end days of his time in office:
‘He finally admits that his low standing in the polls does bother him. “Everybody wants to be liked,” the normally thick-skinned president told a December 1 forum on global health. He concedes that many voters backed Democrat Barack Obama on Election Day as a protest against the Bush years. He admits to frustration with his big setbacks, especially the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which was one of his main reasons for going to war there. Similarly, he is disappointed by the failure of Congress to pass his measures to overhaul immigration and Social Security, and he is distressed by the soaring level of federal spending and the continuing partisan warfare in Washington.’
Read further here and consider the following exercises:
Outline what Bush himself is said to be proud of.
What does the article view as Bush’s positive legacies.
Summarise comment on each of the following headings:
The ‘war on terror’
The war in Iraq
The financial meltdown
Botching Katrina
The elevation of Dick Cheney
Bush shoe incident
See here for CNN’s take on another lowlight of the Bush administration
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