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Is the American people are now beginning to realise the long reign of George W. Bush will be remembered by its expensive and misguided foreign policy and nonexistent progress at home.

As the polls suggest, the American public have opened their eyes and can now see the damage this administration has done not only to America’s image and standing but also to its infrastructure and security.

In a recent Post-ABC News survey 52% of those questioned said that the war in Iraq is not contributing to America’s security. 49% said that they disapproved of Bush’s handling of the war on terror. Bush’s strongest electoral asset now lies in tatters only 6 months after the election.

Bush’s overall approval stands at 50%. In another Pew poll the approval stands at 52%. Is the tide turning? Is Bush destroying any chance of his Republican successor securing office?

As support sours towards the Republicans the record of the 43rd American President is increasingly under the scope. In the Post today David Broader quoted a conversation with former speaker Newt Gingrich that outlined such insecurities explaining that there are “a lot of parallels between the restiveness of European voters, and what I feel when I’m on the road.” Could American voters revolt against the status quo a la the French and Dutch?

Of course the Whitehouse remains oblivious to criticism or reality, deflecting criticisms towards media outlets such as Newsweek. Spokesperson Scott McClellan who - while a report on the military’s handling of the Koran was being suppressed - had the Nixonian impudence to blame the magazine for the rioting in Afghanistan, something both Gen. Richard Myers and Hamid Karzai refuted. Much like in the time of Nixon’s press bruiser Charles W Colson, the media is to be controlled, suppressed, and intimidated. Press passes have become political tools to punish and ostracise non-compliant journalists, however should one play the game the Whitehouse proved any fraud can just walk into the most exclusive briefing in the world.

The court of Bush accepts no dissenters.

Foreign Policy

President Bush has proved unusually internationalist for a Republican, he has had a great deal of work to do. Unfinished business in Iraq (an open wound from the Bush’41 tenure) was to be completed, and nothing was going to stand in his way. In an unholy alliance with the Puppet Master Dick Cheney and the Warmonger Donald Rumsfeld, Bush moved quickly to build the case for war. As the Downing Street memo now proves there was a premeditated plan to invade, with or without UN authority.

One and a half thousand US servicemen have returned home dead, draped in the Stars and Stripes, a scene too symbolic to be filmed. Thousands more try and rebuild shattered lives with multiple injuries and lost limbs. Countless civilians have also perished following the invasion and the country has remained in a state of high alert. Years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein the occupation forces are unable to even secure the road between Baghdad and the airport. But the War is going well according to the Whitehouse and the compliant Right wing media machine; the truth diluted as it vanishes before our eyes.

As Bush and his gang tear apart and clumsily rebuild the shattered country other pressing issues are allowed to fester. An avoidable crisis in North Korea has allowed hardliners to gain control, and they have used their announced nuclear capabilities to emasculate American influence on the peninsular. Bush likes to encourage China to take a lead on the issue ignoring the historical divisions between the two countries. The two-way talks the Koreans demand are rejected for the continued policy of inaction.

Again with meaningless rhetoric the administration has enflamed anti—US sentiment in Iran. Just as women are beginning to challenge their imposed subservience, and students look to build confidence in their decent; the US has come to the aid of Clerical leadership, providing a common enemy for which to rally support against. Such examples of ill thought policy are de rigueur with this pro-war neocon agenda.

In the Afghanistan conflict, which proved, a swift and comprehensive victory (with multinational support and UN recognition) there has been a breakdown in the fragile peace following highly suspect elections and reports of the torturing of detainees. There has also been a significant increase in the exportation of opium, although in fairness the British contingent was supposedly responsible for the post-war opium control. Just as Myanmar is looking too kill off its heroin trade the Afghan’s are happy to fill the gap in demand.

However we must remember that the Afghan conflict was an effort to find and capture Osama Bin Laden. Osama continues to enjoy a secretive if highly symbolic freedom.

A positive and effective response to the Tsunami disaster aside, there has been little to recommend from half a decade of Bush and Cheney.

At home

Few American citizens would be able to describe Compassionate Conservatism, the foundation for the Bush victory in 2000, as so little has been evident. Teachers unions continue to criticise the counter productive No Child Left Behind initiative, where nonsensical targets continue to suppress progress and development.

Bush’s early Medicare reform was sold to congress on odious figures and appears completely unsustainable, just the sort of neocon Trojan horse that now threatens Roosevelt’s social legacies. Fiscal revenue will continue to flow into the pockets of the healthcare companies who so inflated the Bush election purse. Bush did not stop there; he campaigned last year on tort reform, which threatens to limit the liability healthcare corporations owe their customers (the US people). Spiralling health care insurance costs were to blame however Bush refuses to debate the possibility of sourcing vastly cheaper drugs from Canada and Europe. Why? To prevent terrorists tampering with the medication. It’s an Orwellian nightmare.

Bush this year - bathing in his victory – went on tour to sell Social Security reform to the masses. Again if you follow the money it leads to investment firms and their hungry eyes, Wall Street cannot wait too devour this socialist hangover. Again newspeak is used too bamboozle and convince the American public into selling its future to the men in suits who know what’s best.

Staged rallies are arranged where Bush talks of crisis and impending doom, never allowing dissenters, the president talks of choice and ownership. Now with the American public rejecting the proposal 2 to 1, Bush is forced to justify the initiative using figures something he has been unable to do. The Whitehouse response of course is to cry foul and claim the Democrat’s are spoilers, unsupportive of an empathetic democratically elected president.

The proposed Clean Air policy has led to increased carbons in the atmosphere and a failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The US people’s response? To go beyond the protocol taking the matters into their own hands using local democracy to challenge pollution at source city by city, proving how out of step Bush has become with his own electorate.

Homeland security remains a sticking point with current account deficit at unsustainable levels and his regressive tax cuts to be financed, there is little left to secure the nations ports and boarders, immigrants and possible terrorists flood into the country. America is no safer.

And what of the economy? Ford and General Motors’ stock is declared junk and American manufacturing has suffered its worse period for decades. The Chinese support the treasury with an endless supply off bond purchases creating a legacy of debt that future generation will have too reconcile. Bush will be safely retired to his Austin ranch in time to miss the debts being called in. Only the stuttering early performance of the Euro has stopped the dollar from loosing its privileged position as the global default currency. This is deeply symbolic and creates vast wealth for US government as it enjoys the benefits from all US Dollar exchanges.

With the American economy suffering slowdown the companies associated with the Bush and Cheney families have enjoyed something of a blue patch. Halliburton has made a fortune from the Iraq invasion charging literally millions of dollars for work valued in the thousands. Cheques are never questioned only authorised, the American taxpayer will pick up the tab.

The Carlyle Group who helpfully employs Papa Bush have also seen numerous defence contracts signed. In the case of their subsidiary United Defense they have even seen a policy change where a cumbersome and slow military vehicles life is extended to ensure a healthy corporate flotation. Nothing is too much to ask young George.

So what now for the American people? Well first they have 3 more years of Bush filling his coffers and squandering his opportunity. Then maybe America can evaluate this inept and corrupt administration and rejoin the global community and live up to its responsibilities.