The 'I' word at last

No, not that I-word... From Harold Meyerson in today's WaPo:

Bush the Incompetent

Incompetence is not one of the seven deadly sins, and it's hardly the worst attribute that can be ascribed to George W. Bush. But it is this president's defining attribute. Historians, looking back at the hash that his administration has made of his war in Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina and his Medicare drug plan, will have to grapple with how one president could so cosmically botch so many big things -- particularly when most of them were the president's own initiatives.

He goes on to describe how the administration has managed to make total hash out of everything they try to do.

I might take exception to this, however: "Incompetence is not one of the seven deadly sins, and it's hardly the worst attribute that can be ascribed to George W. Bush."

Incompetence is the defining flaw of this administration. While most people agree Saddam Hussein was a Bad Man and the world would be better off if he were not in charge of a country anywhere and thus supported his ouster in theory, I suspect no one thought anyone could fuck it up as badly as the Bush Regime.

A well-intentioned incompetent is arguably worse than an evil genius. (And I'm not vouching for BushCo's good intentions when I say this - I don't think they have any.) Nixon was by most accounts non-stupid, and while undeniably not a particularly nice man, actually accomplished a few good things while trying to undermine the separation of powers.

The only saving grace to the Bush Regime's global incompetence is that there's a good possibility that they will fuck up their ongoing efforts to overthrow the constitution.