Lowry has it even more backwards. How many instances can we all recall of Republicans (Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.) blaming Obama for the mess Bush left, beginning only days after Obama was inaugurated?

Wouldn't they just love it if America wasn't reminded over and over who got us to where we are.

Sorry bubs, In Bush we Bust.

Didn't the Bushies go out of their way to try and paint President Clinton in the worst light possible?

Projection?

Lowry also conveniently forgets the vast amounts of criticism of Clinton (who left the country in far far better shape than the last admin did) by the Bushies.
It's the old projection thing again, isn't it...

Rich Lowry is using the same standards of intellectual integrity often used by right wing writers, e.g. George Will. Namely, if X is his opinion, then X is automatically supported by all the evidence that he needs--his opinion. Why marshall facts or examples when X is already validated, simply by the fact that it is his opinion? Adding additional evidence is simply bringing coals to Newcastle.

They gotta say SOMETHING, y'know.
Gawd, I hope healthcare reform with public option passes soon. It's gonna be so much fun listening to the wingnuts going apoplectic while GOP polling continues to slide.
When their numbers hit single digits, maybe they will reconsider having followed the most extreme parts of their coalition into the abyss.

2012? Democrats will be running against Bush until at least 2020.

Some Democrats make it too easy for Republicans to level these charges. Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, has waged a mediocre campaign where he has not countered the cliched attacks of his Republican opponent that Virginia's economy is the way it is because of Obama spending and over-regulation rather than Bush spending and Republican deregulatory policies in re to Wall Street and the Insrance industry. The large percentage of the deficit that was casued by Bush should be required talking points for every Democrat and should be repeated so much that even the mainstream press has to acknowledge it.

I'm of the opinion that President Obama doesn't blame Bush nearly enough.

Hourly would not be too much for me.

"I'm of the opinion that President Obama doesn't blame Bush nearly enough."

Me too.

I would add "...blame Bush, and his Republican ilk..."

We have been way too easy on the people who put us in the mess we are in.

Lowry has it backwards.

But this is axiomatic, as George Will would say.

This from the party that spent 20 years running against McGovern and/or Jimmy Carter.

Ever so rich . . .

Plus Dubya never blamed Clinton for anything (**cough**cough** recession**cough).

And Reagan didn't blame Jimmy Carter for something every 5 minutes.

Man I wish NRO would allow readers to comment on their site.

Then again, we all know why they don't....

It's not Obama's job to blame Bush several times a day, and it would quickly be counterproductive. It's the Democratic caucus's and leadership's job to do this.

Lowry is a very shallow, uncritical propagandist comme celebrity.

Can anyone point to anything he has ever written that in any way could be considered critically-deep thinking on political policy?

He's a sparkle boy, leading the Buckley rightwing into teh depths of despair -- karma, Bill (where ever you are)... karma...

I guess Rich is happy that we don't continue to bring up the responsibility of Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression. Perhaps Rich wants George Bush to avoid the years of blame for his responsibility for the Great Recession.

No way. Even if Bush is a conservative, he will still be blamed and we will hope he someday accepts responsibility for his many failures and crimes. There's not a lot of hope in history, though. Both Coolidge and Hoover were conservatives, and neither ever admitted responsibility for the failure of the U.S. economy as a result of their policies.

Taking responsibility for getting the economy wrong is not in the conservative job description, apparently, and that's what Lowery is trying to tell us. Lowery is just another mistaken conservative propagandist.

Actually I agree with one of Lowry's points, namely that running against Bush is electoral gold for at least the next ten years. (And deservedly so.)

So who was it that nominated and elected the man? Was it Obama or the Democrats? No, it was people like Lowry who not only created the Bush presidency, but slavishly supported it all the way through. If you want to complain about whose fault it is the Republicans have this albatross, go look in the mirror.

Lowry's a talentless hack and always has been. Plus, he's still blinded by the sparks that flew when Sarah Palin winked at HIM during the vp debate last year.

Obama often does refer to the problems he inherited, but he is totally justified in doing so.

I'm with shortstop@11.01a. The DCCC and DSCC, and leadership should be criticising the Republicans and their do nothing eight years in power.

I, too, find Obama a little too restrained in talking about the past responsibilities.

We ALL should be talking more.

Bush really is a Hoover for modern times. Nearly every single problem this administration has faced, and continues to face, stems from Bush's failures, incompetence, and mismanagement. The moment President Obama was sworn in, he had to deal with an economy in free fall, soaring unemployment, a collapsing U.S. auto industry, a health care system in crisis, a housing crisis, a looming global warming catastrophe, two costly wars, an enormous budget deficit, a $10 trillion debt, a pessimistic electorate, a Guantanamo fiasco, and a global landscape in which the United States had lost much of its global prestige

Sing it, brother. The Onion said it best.

To your impressive list, I would add, a nation that had partially lost its moral center, where torture was defended, where habeas corpus was denied to prisoners, and where Hurricane Katrina was able to reveal the cruelty and indifference of the top leadership towards human suffering, even of our own citizens. There are so many crimes of a large and small nature, our children will not believe that this all really happened.

-it ain't just in the halls of academe that "Publish or Perish" is the driver of job security.

The Right Wing Rags-from dailies to weeklies to monthlies- need black marks on white paper to feed their dwindling readership. That those 'black marks' actually make sense is immaterial. . .

Wow! This from the crowd that blamed every one of Dubyah Gump's myriad failures over the course of eight catastrophic years, from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina to the collapse of the housing bubble on Bill Clinton's penis - oh yeah and don;'t forget Carter!

Why does Lowry hate the troops so? Please don't forget. You guys always seem to leave out torture...

Ah, but he accepted that Nobel Prize, thus implicitly agreeing that by kicking the party of Bush out of office, along with everything it stood for, he'd already accomplished something significant for world peace, as indeed he had. No wonder the right is apoplectic about it, and trying to spin it as some sort of humiliation.

I especially like the part where Lowry says Obama has a tin ear. Yep, the man just has no idea how to sound convincing. No I meant that man named Obama not that man named Lowry. What made you assume I was saying Lowry has a tin ear ?

Lowry is jerking two knees.

One is "attack their strengths don't attack their weaknesses" - Karl Rove. The fact that Bush left a catastrophe is a very strong argument for higher approval of Obama than would be justified if Bush hadn't done so.
Therefore, Lowry reflexively tries to tern it into a criticism of Obama. Obviously mere facts never had anything to do with the Rovian strategy.

The other is to take irritation at how other people respond to Obama and try to direct it at Obama. Did the Nobel Peace Prize committee uhm behave strangely ? OK keep that emotion. Use it in a way that is useful to true patriots. Direct it at the President of the USA.

The second is expressing emotions as claims about objective fact. I'm sure that when Lowry thinks of Obama he is very irritated. If I were conservative I would be irritated that conservatism has such an effective adversary. Volutntarily giving his brain over to emotion and abandoning reason, he can feel Obama must be at fault some how. Since conservatives who think with their gut pay his salary, he deliberately abandons reason and evidence.

Sure he knows better, but he also knows on which side his bread is buttered.

It's the exact opposition of what Lowry said:

Obama on the economy: 'Give it to me'

July 14, 2009 into POTUS Notes

President Obama, who has made a regular habit of blaming the country's economic woes on his predecessor President George W. Bush, traveled to hard-hit Michigan on Tuesday and said he wants to own the economy.

"I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama's economy," Obama said.

"That's fine," he said. "Give it to me."

The crowd at Macomb Community College, in Warren, MI, applauded as the president continued.

"My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe," Obama said. "So I welcome the job. I want the responsibility."

That's funny coming from the GOP. Heos been out of office 9 years and they still are blaming all their ills on Clinton.

Somehow I feel if Lowry should experience water boarding.

Actually, comparing Bush to Hoover is unfair to Hoover. At least, Hoover had principled opposition (however wrongheaded) towards what was best for the nation as the Great Depression sunk in. I sense that the only principle guiding the Bush Administration during the past eight years, was the concentrating of economic and political power among his supporters.

I would like to have seen Lowry's take on the first two years of Reagan's presidency. Other commentators have mentioned this, but the Reagan White House blamed everything on Carter. You think Lowry would've been on his fainting couch then? Maybe, if the starbursts got the best of him.

I just had a flashback to the week after the inauguration. For about a week every time I thought or said "FORMER President Bush" I was just thrilled and joyous. It just hit me again reading these comments.

His damage is deep and broad and lasting, but at least Bush is no longer in a position to exacerbate it. He truly is the Hoover of our times, something that ought to make that man seriously rethink his legacy tour.

We're fortunate to have such a level-headed, thoughtful person leading the clean-up crew. He's going to need every bit of it.

FORMER (appointed) President Bush. It's a lovely thing.

In October, 2003 Rich Lowry came out with a book titled, Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years. In it, Lowry blamed Clinton for 9/11, weakening our national standing, domestic security, national security, and defense.

October of 2003!

Bush isn't just Hoover, he's Adolf Hoover.

Only one commenter remembers the gleeful Carter bashing that the GOP indulged in for 12 years? Either memories are short or these commenters are fairly young.

Qbert - Fairly young? Keep in mind that most people don't start paying attention to politics until their twenties. 1986 was 23 years ago, so the youngest you should expect is about 43...

Isn't Lowry the guy who had that 'wet dream' over Sara Palin ? Says it all right there ........

At this rate, when Obama writes his post-presidential memoir, it will be titled: An Audacious Presidency, or How I Saved America from That Bastard Bush.

That's why we elected him, Lowry, you jackass!

Only one commenter remembers the gleeful Carter bashing that the GOP indulged in for 12 years?

Carter was hardly the beginning. Righties have been running against "the sixties" ever since, well, the 60's. That's why all Dems are assumed to be Dirty F'ing Hippies from the get go.

c'mon, people, get real...Obama has, with perfect reason, based a significant part of his agenda and his appeal on fixing the mess that he inherited. The fact that Bush blamed Clinton for everything, when the country had just experienced 8 years of prosperity, doesn't change that. Steve said Obama has been remarkably restrained...please. I suppose he could do it more aggressively, but it's just silly not to acknowledge that Obama aims to justify his actions by pointing to the inherited mess. I mean, how much more obvious could "grab a mop" be??

"In October, 2003 Rich Lowry came out with a book titled, Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years." - inkadu

LMAO!!

At this rate, when Obama writes his post-presidential memoir, it will be titled: "An Audacious Presidency," or "How I Saved America from That Bastard Bush."

I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Lowry on this one. Bush really was a bastard.

An Audacious Presidency, or How I Saved America from That Bastard Bush

President Obama has too much class to use it, but that's a totally appropriate title for his memoir.

Biden's memoir

A Constitutional Vice-Presidency, or How I Rolled Back 8 Years of Criminal Malfeasance, Perpetrated by Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney

tell him what you think, then

Lowry is just mad because there's an elephant in the room.

"Obama clearly wants Bush to be the Hoover to his FDR." Uh, if the shoe fits ... if looks like a duck ... and that's a problem because ... WOW I wish I had thought of that ...

Man, repubs are soooo uncreative.

I'm so glad you included that last paragraph because there was no area of government the Bush administration didn't make worse. Like a series of dump trucks, Bush dumped massive amounts of garbage in every part of government.

There's a reason why he is called the worst president of modern times if not our entire history. He caused so much death and destruction and he left us in a bus headed over the cliff.
Lowry has lost his memory about the huge mess left by Bush that will take years to clean up. He should be praising Obama for not blaming Bush on a daily basis for the huge mess He is trying to fix. Bush blamed Clinton more than Obama blames Bush for problems left un-dealt with.

We must not forget all the damage the Bush administration caused mainly because the repubs have not changed and would return to finishing the destruction Bush caused. "Bring back Bush" goes along with electing any republican for they are the same.

We might give Lowry greater more credit on the fine art of accepting responsibility if the whole point of his column wasn't CYA for the GOP by sweeping Bush's manifest failures under the rug, or down a memory hole.

*yawn*

Yes, wingnuts are hypocrites who project their own insanity onto others. Can we just stipulate that and move on to doing something productive?

Lowery is being proactive. The more the right complains about Obama blaming Bush, the less likely Obama will be to place the blame where it belongs.