Leaders Who Won't Choose - By Fareed Zakaria Newsweek

[applegrove]

Leaders Who Won't Choose
In Washington, it's business as usual in the face of a national catastrophe.

By Fareed Zakaria
Newsweek


"Sept. 26, 2005 issue - Adversity builds character," goes the old adage. Except that in America today we seem to be following the opposite principle. The worse things get, the more frivolous our response. President Bush explains that he will spend hundreds of billions of dollars rebuilding the Gulf Coast without raising any new revenues. Republican leader Tom DeLay declines any spending cuts because "there is no fat left to cut in the federal budget."

This would be funny if it weren't so depressing. What is happening in Washington today is business as usual in the face of a national catastrophe. The scariest part is that we've been here before. After 9/11 we have created a new government agency, massively increased domestic spending and fought two wars. And the president did all this without rolling back any of his tax cuts—in fact, he expanded them—and refused to veto a single congressional spending bill. This was possible because Bush inherited a huge budget surplus in 2000. But that's all gone. The cupboard is now bare.

Whatever his other accomplishments, Bush will go down in history as the most fiscally irresponsible chief executive in American history. Since 2001, government spending has gone up from $1.86 trillion to $2.48 trillion, a 33 percent rise in four years! Defense and Homeland Security are not the only culprits. Domestic spending is actually up 36 percent in the same period. These figures come from the libertarian Cato Institute's excellent report "The Grand Old Spending Party," which explains that "throughout the past 40 years, most presidents have cut or restrained lower-priority spending to make room for higher-priority spending. What is driving George W. Bush's budget bloat is a reversal of that trend." To govern is to choose. And Bush has decided not to choose. He wants guns and butter and tax cuts.

....Snip"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9379241/

[hwmnbn]

1. He nails it.........

He lays into the repugs in particular.

"...The federal coffers are being looted for congressional patronage, and it is being done openly and without any guilt.

...Today's Republicans believe in pork, but they don't believe in government.So we have the largest government in history but one that is weak and dysfunctional.

...The U.S. Congress is a national embarrasment, except that no one is embarrassed."

and it gets better. This is a must read. Or should I say a must Fareed.

[applegrove]

2. I've just found out about him. He seems very astute. I love a writer

who is a find. Oh joy - oh bliss.

[hwmnbn]

3. He is an almost regular on.....

ABCs "This Week" the Sunday morning talk show. He also has his own show on PBS that delves into international issues especially middle-east.

He is one smart, well spoken dude who can and does shoot down the right wing talking heads.

[AtomicKitten]

4. He's a pretty regular Daily Show guest.

And, he's right, all the cosmic revelations about this administration don't seem to matter; is America really content with this epic screw-up?

[applegrove]

5. I think I did see him on DS. Few weeks ago? I seem to remember the

name. Read about him on politically incorrect transcript too lately. I'm sure I've read his stuff before. Just didn't put the name in my head till lately.

[AtomicKitten]

6. in the flesh

[LiberalVoice]

7. So long as the cable is still on and theres beer in the fridge. nt

[greenman3610]

8. Zakaria

has a long way to go to make up for being
a gutless shill for the the Iraq war from the
beginning.
He's coming out of his torpor a little now,
finger firmly in the wind, seeing an
opportunity to ride the wave of
revulsion against policies and leaders
whose ass he has been sucking for
years.

[DubyaSux]

9. I agree...

Zakaria is very pro-war. Because of his acceptance of the multitude of reasons why war with Iraq was good, I hold him personally accountable.

He has blood on his hands. An otherwise outstanding article does not change that.