1115.org

In the community of nations, when someone meets America on the street, and goes: “Hey, how ya doin’?”, America doesn’t give a very cheerful account of itself these days:

Public disgruntlement neared a record high … in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Eighty-two percent of Americans now say the country’s seriously off on the wrong track, up 10 points in the last year to a point from its record high (sic) in polls since 1973.

I’m not sure 82% of Americans would agree that two plus two is four. How improbable is it that they would agree on something as subjective and intangible as the way the country is being run? And yet you have 82% of Americans agreeing not just that the country’s on the wrong track, but seriously so. (The exact question: “Do you think things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track?”)

No matter how much he wriggles and squirms, this is the unshakable legacy of George Bush—gross mismanagement (of every single aspect of government from conducting foreign wars to managing the domestic economy) coupled with complete disdain of and disregard for public opinion, or common sense, or the consensus of experts. Too bad that nobody ever sat him down and explained to him how government of, by and for the people is actually supposed to work, how listening to citizens and voters is a lot more important than listening in.

Now, for all time, the administration of George Bush will represent the low point that a government can reach when it totally divorces itself from reality, and when it successfully manages to evade all accountability. (There is, of course, the ex post settling up that takes place at the ballot box next time around. I stand by my previous assertion that no matter what the polls may say right now, John McCain is going to totally have his ass handed to him in November. And I’m still accepting $20 bets on that proposition.)