House of Cards, or An Open Letter to President Bush

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing in response to your opinion piece "What the Congress Can Do for America" in the 1/3/07 issue of the Wall Street Journal.

Oh, but aren't you clever, trying to turn everything on its head? You do realize, don't you, that the problems our country faces today are not the fault of the Democratic party--the party that has been out of office the entire time you've been in office, and that the Democrats are not responsible for fixing your messes, right? Sorry--silly me, and I even read the piece!

This "partisan environment of today's Washington" of which you speak--do you mean the one created by a Republican Executive and Congress? Those elected officials who have been trying to push through their/your partisan agenda for the last six years? The ones Democrats have been trying to work with (and despite), to no avail?

You state "I believe we share many of the same goals for the people we serve..." Really? My party seeks to uphold the Constitution and make this country a better place for all of its citizens. What goals does yours seek? War profiteering? 3000 more Americans dead in an ill-conceived war? More deficit spending? Your administration has done anything but try to uphold the Constitution and for that, you will go down in history as one of the worst Presidents this country has ever seen. History, rightly so, will not be kind to you, sir.

You talk about "common sense" principals. To me, "common sense" involves defending the same Constitution you swore to uphold. What happened to that oath? I guess there isn't much money to be made in doing that, is there?

You speak of the creation of the USA Patriot Act after 9/11 and that "we" came together. The only "we" that came together were the people you scared half to death into thinking you had their best interests at stake. You were lucky to get re-authorization, but the people are wising up. You tried to scare us into submission and at long last, the American public isn't buying it anymore.

Your opinion piece this week talks about bridging partisan gaps and working together, yet in the same piece you state--once again--that you want a line-item veto and you go so far as to warn (yes, warn!) Congress about passing bills that are "simply political statement" (like the USA Patriot Act, Mr. President?) that they will be stopped. You've also asked for 20,000 more troops for Iraq, in complete contraction of the Generals on the ground and the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. Truly, you must live in a parallel universe if you think either of these things will come to any good.

This is an odd little piece you've written (you did write it, yes?), demonstrating how brilliantly you talk out of both sides of your mouth, often saying one thing and meaning another.

While the Democrats cannot single-handedly fix the things you've (deliberately or not) destroyed, we will make headway, with or without your support. Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership heard the people speak in November. You claim to have as well, but reading this letter from you in the Wall Street Journal convinces me (more than ever) otherwise.

You, sir, are a lame duck. Please step aside and let our Congress do the people's business without impediment. Funny, but I used to think of Ronald Reagan as our country's Francis Urquhart--you know, the Machiavellian anti-hero of Michael Dobbs's brilliant and chilling political trilogy--but I think you're actually more like him, just in a more folksy sorta way, which is actually much more dangerous and frightening.

But even Francis Urquhart knew that "[n]othing lasts forever. Even the most glittering reign must come to an end." Thankfully, Mr. President, yours is nearing its end, and not a moment too soon.