“I fault this president for not knowing what death is,” writes E.L. Doctorow in a recent essay. It is hard to disagree: This president shows little sign that he understands the gravity of sending soldiers off to kill and die. His remarks on the death penalty when he was governor of Texas showed that he regards death as a matter for jokes, not as a serious matter requiring careful deliberation. Nor does this president take council from those who might disagree: He has no patience for serious interchange and discussion with people who have a different point of view. He dismisses those who disagree as silly, wimpy or unpatriotic.

In this senseless war, Bush has uselessly spent the precious lives of many honorable people. We were attacked by al-Qaida. In a spectacular non sequitur, Bush responded by attacking Iraq. Note that al-Qaida had expressed enmity against Iraq and Saddam Hussein specifically and more generally against all secular governments in the region. The attack on Iraq could make sense only if there were independent evidence that Saddam was effectively preparing an attack, or if there were credible grounds for a humanitarian intervention aimed at helping the people of Iraq. In a remarkable sleight of hand, Bush has managed to conflate our attack on Iraq with the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers so that many Americans are convinced that our action in Iraq was necessary because of the attack on the towers.

I have said nothing here about Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility, which will leave our children with an unimaginable debt (to get a sense of the implications of this problem, see Laurence Kotlikoff’s book “The Coming Generational Storm.” This sober conservative economist will set your hair on end).

I’ve said nothing about this administration’s effort to twist scientific findings about global warming and species preservation around a free-market ideology that sees environmental regulation as simply a barrier to free trade.

I’ve said nothing about the fact that Bush squandered unprecedented international goodwill after Sept. 11. But I must say something about this, because it’s especially relevant since we will need the help of the international community in order to extract ourselves from Iraq.

Americans are hated as no other force in Iraq is hated. This makes us singularly ill-equipped to secure order and the rule of law, so we will need the help of the international community. Bush is the person who alienated all those potential allies: He is the person least likely to be able to heal the rift between the United States and the allies whose cooperation we desperately need.

There is too much to say, but it all points the same direction: Bush is not just a bad president, he is a horrible one. This is not just a bad administration, it’s a terrible administration that has done massive damage to the world our children will inherit from us. Let’s throw the bastard out.

Clark Wolf

Associate Professor

Philosophy