"Thomas Oliphant's 'Utter Incompetents'... Every American Should Read This Important Book..." 125 Pageviews...
Written: Dec 26 '07 (Updated Oct 22 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Oliphant tells it like it is.
Cons: Can’t think of any.
The Bottom Line: George W. Bush is the most horrifically incompetent president in all of U.S. history.
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| sfarmer76's Full Review: Thomas Oliphant - Utter Incompetents: How Some of ... |
Utter Incompetents, $24.95 Amazon.com, runs three hundred pages. This hardback from Thomas Oliphant is about government and politics, more specifically the Bush Administration and its many failings; a woeful energy policy, the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War, and the Republican loss of Congress. Oliphant’s book is especially potent when investigating the legacy George W. Bush leaves behind.
The book examines the firings of twelve Republican US Attorneys – a political flap attributed to a memo generated by Karl Rove in 2004. These strategic, politically-motivated DOJ firings cost Gonzales his position as Attorney General. Oliphant then reaches back to explain how Bush came to be elected, how he chose his Veep, and the tremendous corporate influence on Bush’s Cabinet.
The crux of Oliphant’s book is this – George W. Bush’s Administration and a Republican-led Congress have damaged the conservative cause. Oliphant intimates Bush blew it when it came to John DiIulio and his ‘faith based’ initiatives. Furthermore, everything Bush has touched has turned into major catastrophe; his presidency is a textbook case of narrow political success squandered by massive governmental failure.
Energy policy was Bush’s supposed strength, but his record ranged from dereliction, to inattention, to special interest favoritism. His inaugural year created a price-gouging mess that rages unabated, and electrical brownouts and triple-rate price hikes that occurred in California were the result of fraud and price/supply manipulation. Two-term Presidents are both effective and responsive, or failures; Bush is the latter.
Reforms for the health care system as proposed by President Bush have been astonishingly unrealistic, and only Americans with large incomes would benefit. Representative Rahm Emanuel derided Bush’s initiatives for their “absence of appeal to ordinary Americans for whom up-front payments for personal insurance would be an extreme hardship,” and stated that Bush “does nothing to expand the number of insured.”
Inattention to global warming has also made Bush look weak. The American public has realized that Bush used his presidential power to serve the needs of special interest groups (for example, coal-fired power plants) instead of shoring up conservative environmental principles, and they disapprove of his political subterfuge in these areas. Bush also hobbled the FDA through cronyism and mismanagement.
Despite pledges to funnel $1.7 billion annually to poverty related organizations operated by churches, less than $1 billion was being distributed through religious organizations at the end of Bush’s first term. The money given to ‘faith based’ initiatives, however, failed to offset the increase in poverty that occurred throughout Bush’s first term. Bush also squandered choice opportunities for comprehensive immigration reform.
In botching the economy and ignoring kitchen table issues, Bush created conditions that lost the G.O.P. control of Congress in 2006. Between 2001 and 2006, corporate profits in the U.S. nearly doubled, while worker’s wages dipped 3 percent. And while worker’s wages have remained flat, the cost of necessities (daycare, education, electricity, food, gas, health care, and housing) has spiraled.
One topic Bush failed at specifically concerns tax cuts. Bush has absolutely no strategy for rescuing his dear cuts for high-income earners and investors from their 2010 expiration dates. Activist Bruce Bartlett (who served under Reagan and Bush Sr.) attributes growing discontent on the right, to a growing conviction that Bush Junior blew a historic opportunity and hurt the conservative cause.
The great tragedy of the Bush legacy is this – gargantuan deficits. This is indefensible because Bush took office with a projected $5.6 trillion dollar surplus, then squandered it on costly wars (Afghanistan and Iraq), and large tax cuts. Additionally, Bush and his supporters elevated old-fashioned pork barrel spending ($30 billion in 2006 alone) to new highs as the deficit ballooned.
Sadly, Oliphant predicts, the Bush Administration will be remembered mostly for the murderous mess it made in Iraq. Bush will inevitably be held accountable for the botched occupation; also for his myopic refusal to plan for the unforeseen and his inability to make adjustment to the war plan as needed. Every American should take their blinders off and read this important book.
(68/125)
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The Book:
Utter Incompetents,
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-36017-7
Pages:
291 Pages including Index
Rating:
5 Stars
Chapters:
Sixteen Chapters
If You Like Utter Incompetents, you might enjoy:
Broken Government,
Cowboy Republic,
Raising Hell for Justice,
The Conscience of a Liberal,
Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency,
Visit the Publisher’s Official Website:
www.stmartins.com
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
Visit the Author’s Wikipedia entry:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Oliphant
Recommended:
Yes
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sfarmer76
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