Squandered
When our President took over in 2001, we had a record surplus--on our way to paying down the national debt, to the relief of future generations; we were at peace--on our way to cooperating with the rest of the world to address worldwide problems.

That combination--national prosperity and peace--seems a million miles away today. What could we have done with it? How about this: we could have focused our energies and resources to attack some truly horrendous problems. Here's just 2 that are pissing me off today:

1. The environment--is it too late? A growing majority of Americans care about the problem of global warming, but can we convince the Congress and the White House to cooperate with the UN, and spend the resources necessary to address it? And is there a megaphone big enough to raise this issue over the drumbeats of war in Iraq and now Iran?

2. Genocide in Darfur. We used to care about genocide. There will be a rally in DC on April 30 to try and draw attention to the fact that the systematic murder of the black Sudanese has resulted in nearly half a million deaths and 2 million refugees. And, oh yeah, there's no food, water or medical service there. I wonder if the news on April 30 or May 1 will be able to fit it in?

And instead of having the focus/time/money to demonstrate some leadership on these problems, we gutted our economy with tax cuts for the rich, and squashed our military resources/national attention span by going to war with Iraq.

President Bush has made hundreds of horrendous mistakes, but has any President ever made 2 decisions any worse than those 2--tax cuts and war with Iraq?

What things are you annoyed that we can't or won't address thanks to our President's poor judgment?