By John Janney
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (United States)

(YellowTimes.org) – Besides the question of taste, one particularly important issue regarding the Bush campaign's use of imagery from the 9-11 tragedy is the Bush administration's pattern of breaking promises.

For example, the Bush campaign promised they would not use the tragedy of 9-11 for political gain after catching sharp criticisms for raising funds by selling copies of a photograph of President Bush taken just hours after the infamous terrorists' attacks. They unrepentantly reneged, but that is only one small sample of Bush's pattern.

During his 2000 campaign, candidate Bush repeatedly expressed revulsion against racial profiling. During his administration, Bush has practiced gross racial and religious profiling to the tune of thousands of individuals detained for the crime of being Muslim or Arab. The Bush regime raided dozens of homes of Muslim activists and shut down the three most successful Muslim charities without any due process of law or a shred of evidence to support any claims of wrong-doing.

During the second presidential debate of 2000, candidate Bush said, "I don't want to federalize the local police forces." During his administration, Bush's creation of the Department of Homeland Security has moved our law enforcement in the very direction he claimed to oppose, and the proposed CLEAR Act, along with other troubling legislation, will move us further in this dangerous direction.

In this same debate, Bush voiced strong opposition to U.S. involvement in nation-building. In his time in office, he has turned U.S. troops into occupying forces of Afghanistan and Iraq with clear nation-building agendas that have failed miserably thus far. His administration's support of the military coup in Venezuela is another embarrassing example.

Bush also stated during this debate that he "wouldn't have sent troops to Haiti. I didn't think it was a mission worthwhile." Now we are witnessing Bush's military machine occupying Haiti after supporting a military coup to oust the leftist Aristide.

Bush promised reforms to the American healthcare system, but his rule in Washington has produced over 40 million uninsured Americans who are more afraid of getting sick than getting attacked by terrorists. His insistence that our healthcare system must remain private to maintain quality is a statement against reality and further establishes your life as just another market for corporate exploitation.

To say the administration's predictions on employment and economic growth have come up short would be the understatement of the century. Bush's tax cuts are not helping the economy, and the breadcrumbs he threw to millions of taxpayers have created economic indigestion in the forms of higher energy bills, higher tuition and increasing healthcare costs. Bush's claims of new job creation fail to mention that many of these jobs are created overseas or that the overseas labor market competition is driving the wage level downward as cost of living expenses in America are driven upward.

Bush boasts about passing the No Child Left Behind Act and promised this legislation would bring forth fruits of educational progress. In reality, funding for this initiative has been left behind by his administration and the promised fruits have yet to show any signs of ripening.

Candidate Bush promised to reduce the national debt. As president, Bush has brought the national debt to its highest point in history. He also claimed the ability to bring Democrats and Republicans together, but his shrewd tricks of fraudulently fear mongering politicians into obedience has backfired and created the most politically divided America we have seen in decades.

Bush promises many things and fails to deliver in most cases. In fact, with the exception of big business, anyone to whom Bush promises anything will eventually receive the opposite and feel burned by this hideous process.

Soon, it will be time to thank Bush for his consistent pattern of performance.

[John Janney operates http://www.johnjanney.org/.]

John Janney encourages your comments: op-ed@johnjanney.org

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