Americans finally acknowledge the incompetence of their government

As I recall, prior to 9/11/2001, George W. Bush was considered an inept, willfully underinformed, disengaged president by a good percentage of Americans -- if not the majority, then pretty darned close. He seemed an overgrown frat boy, unserious about his serious job, vacationing more than working. His handlers wrote almost every word he spoke and cringed when the guy said something unscripted as it always demonstrated his cluelessness.

Most Americans wiped from memory that negative impression after 9/11 when we needed to believe that we had a strong leader who knew how to protect us.

We clenched our eyes closed when exposed to any of the great number of horrendously bad decisions by this administration because it was more important to us to be able to cling to the belief that we were being protected. Cold analysis could wait until we felt safe. Which would be never, if this administration, beating the drum about terrorists and mushroom clouds, had its way.

Finally, it seems, from recent polls like the new Pew survey of 1405 adults, we're ready to examine the actions of this prez and his administration, without distorting the view via rose-colored lenses. Here's a telling excerpt from the poll.


>>Bush's personal image also has weakened noticeably, which is reflected in people's one-word descriptions of the president. Honesty had been the single trait most closely associated with Bush, but in the current survey "incompetent" is the descriptor used most frequently (See pp. 7-8). <<