The last four years have not been easy for the country.
President Bush has given the Daily’s editorial board plenty
to lament about: The economy’s in shambles, the situation in
Iraq is worsening and Afghanistan has vanished from the public
consciousness. But there’s an election in five days. And if
things go well, Bush will be packing his bags and heading back to
his Crawford ranch.

Digging a moneyless pit

I find it astounding that the same Republican Party that
proposed a federal balanced budget amendment as part of its
Contract with America in the mid ’90s now strongly supports a
president who is, by any objective standard, fiscally
irresponsible. Our nation, which had a budget surplus four years
ago, is now running the largest deficits in its history. It is true
that a faltering economy and Sept. 11 may have wiped out the
surplus under any president. These events, however, cannot explain
three years of double-digit increases in discretionary spending
under Bush. Nothing except the president’s devotion to an
extreme right-wing ideology can explain his obsession with tax cuts
disproportionately benefiting the wealthy, including a tax cut
while the nation was at war and running a deficit. One can truly
say that our nation owes Bush a debt we might never be able to
repay.

— Christopher Zbrozek

Abusing the Sept. 11 mandate

A good leader does not exploit his nation in its most vulnerable
moments to advance his political agenda. Even more tragic than the
events of Sept. 11 is the way President Bush capitalized on the
rare atmosphere of national unity and bipartisanship.

The Bush presidency is not complicated. With color-coded terror
alerts and the language of the “enemy combatant,” the
administration created an environment ripe for the loss of civil
rights and civil liberties. Fear is used to manipulate the American
public into adopting some of the most conservative and radical
ideology this nation has ever seen.

The president’s war on terrorism is one based on
principles, not facts — on resolve, not results. Osama bin
Laden has not been brought to justice, no weapons of mass
destruction have been found and the administration has never
established a credible link between Iraq and Sept. 11. In our
righteous fervor, we have alienated our allies and caused the
recruitment of more terrorists.

The president has succeeded in acquainting support for the war
in Iraq with patriotism. Citizens who disagree with the president
are no longer exercising their constitutional right to dissent but
are “unpatriotic.” The opportunity to hold an
intelligent debate over how to win the war on terror was lost.

— Mara Gay

The Iraqi mistake

Despite overwhelming evidence that Saddam Hussein was not an
impending threat to the American homeland, President Bush’s
bravado and decision to start an unnecessary war has placed the
United States. In greater danger and has caused a loss of respect
and influence throughout the world. The war has been plagued with
miscues from the Bush administration that have cost thousands of
American lives. Torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib represents the
fleeting ethics of the administration. Insufficient numbers of U.S.
troops and the decision to disband the Iraqi army following the
invasion left a severe shortage of manpower to seal the border,
allowing hundreds of terrorists to flood the country and organize a
devastating insurgency. If anything, the war with Iraq has hurt the
broader war on terrorism.

When it became apparent that weapons of mass destruction were
not to be found, Bush flip flopped by suddenly claiming that the
war was fought to liberate the people of Iraq. Bush has proven
inept in running the post-war effort, and worse, he is too stubborn
to accept his mistakes and plot a new course. New leadership is
needed to win the peace in Iraq and to repair America’s
standing with the world community.

— Brian Slade

The necessity of stem cells