Cementing His Legacy

November 2, 2004 was a great day for me. The Campaign I had been working on for months slid to an unexpected and impressive victory, the only sucessful gay rights campaign that year. November 3, 2004 was heartbreaking. John Kerry conceded defeat and it became clear that George W. Bush would have a second term. Worse yet, my state of Ohio had assured it. I remember thinking that the only good thing about his win was that we had more time. If Bush had left office than there would have still been a good half of the electorate who thought of him fondly. John Kerry would have began his Presidency in a extremely divided country. George Bush might have gone down as an average or even above average President. I hoped that the next four years would reveal his true nature to my fellow Americans...I didn't have to wait long.
Only months after being reelected, his Presidency started to unravel. Troop deaths in Iraq increasing, Hurricane Katrina and a host of scandals had people throwing up their hands in frustration. All of a sudden there is talk that Bush might just go down as the worse President in United States History. As someone who considers himself an amateur Presidential Historian, I only have this to say: "no duh".
I remember months after September 11, 2001 when Bush was riding his wave of popularity with approval ratings in the 90s I wondered if maybe I should give him another chance. As I pondered whether he was really as bad as I was making him out to be he began talking about war with Iraq. I knew from the beginning that war was inevitable and that even if Saddam Hussein complied we'd still find a way to war. But Congress feigned ignorance and most Americans actually were. Bush's reelection in 2004 assured that he would be in office as his plan crumbled before our eyes. No one can blame President Kerry for letting things in Iraq fail, only Mr. Bush.
Now he attempts to make up for years of failed strategy by adding additional troops. Not only is 20,000 men not enough to make any real difference, it may very well be too late. If I'm baking a cake and the recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar and I only use 1; I should't be surprised when the cake fails to meet my expectations. And I can't add the other cup of sugar after the cake is already baked and call it a "new strategy". This is essentially what Bush is doing. While I fear for our troops I watch and wait as our President cements his dismal legacy in history. And though I would have liked to have been able to bypass these last four years of heartache and pain it might be just what our country needed.