January 29, 2004

To the Editor:

Why the People of the United States should fire George W. Bush!

Unlike our various sports teams in New York and elsewhere, our television sit-coms and news shows and our failing CEO’s, who can be retired or dismissed by an owner, or a Board of Trustees, we cannot fire a President or any other elected officials during their term. Unless it is a case of high crimes and misdemeanors, no matter how bad a job our chief executive is doing, we are stuck with him/her until the conclusion of their term of office.

But of course, we do have the opportunity to fire that person through the electoral process. I believe that George Bush should not be judged on what he may or will do in the future. I conclude, that like any other coach, or producer or failed executive, he should be judged on what he has done in the past. It is the past that we should analyze critically and that he be held accountable for. George Bush has presided over a stock market collapse, the loss of 3 million jobs, a health care crisis, unaffordable drugs for millions of elderly citizens, an uncontrollable immigration crisis, an intelligence gathering failure, a squandered surplus, a new added budget deficit of $2.5 trillion, a struggling and expensive educational system, a college cost runaway, a corporate compensation abuse scandal, a mutual fund fee rip-off, an increase in crime nationwide, the exporting of jobs overseas, a record trade deficit, a quagmire of blood and treasury in Afghanistan and Iraq, a tax give-away to billionaires, a homeland security vulnerability, hatred around the world, a loss of stature amongst our traditional foreign allies, and a policy that is clearly anti-environment. These are not ideological or specifically social issues. They are American issues. The loss of jobs, pensions, the decline of our dollar, our continued trade vulnerability regarding China and our energy dependency are not “politics as usual” issues!

I say to conservative, liberals, and moderates, fire this failure and send him packing off to his ranch in Crawford, Texas where he can contemplate his oil and his family riches.

Richard J. Garfunkel