] For $2.4 trillion, guess what word -- other than "a,"
] "and," and "the" -- occurs most frequently in the
] acceptance speech George W. Bush delivered tonight.
]
] The word is "will." It appears 76 times. This was a
] speech all about what Bush will do, and what will happen,
] if he becomes president.
]
] Except he already is president. He already ran this
] campaign. He promised great things. They haven't
] happened. So, he's trying to go back in time. He wants
] you to see in him the potential you saw four years ago.
] He can't show you the things he promised, so he asks you
] to envision them. He asks you to be "optimistic." He asks
] you to have faith.
]
] ...
]
] Recession. Unemployment. Corporate fraud. A war based on
] false premises that has cost us $200 billion and nearly a
] thousand American lives. They're all hills we've "been
] given to climb." It's as though Bush wasn't president. As
] though he didn't get the tax cuts he wanted. As though he
] didn't bring about postwar Iraq and authorize the
] planning for it. All this was "given," and now Bush can
] show up, three and a half years into his term, and start
] solving the problems some other president else left
] behind.
] My favorite moment was when Bush touted the No Child Left
] Behind Act. No more social promotion, he promised. "We are
] transforming our schools by raising standards and focusing
] on results. We are insisting on accountability."
]
] Wasn't this speech, full of unfulfilled promises and
] appeals to good character, basically a plea for social
] promotion? Isn't that the message of the entire Bush
] campaign? Shouldn't the president have to show results,
] too?

[ Saletan positively destroys Bush's speech. -k]

Back to the Future - What Bush would do if he were president. By William Saletan