Letters:
The Bush Presidency is far from amusing; it is terrifyingTuesday, 19 February 2008
Sir: I take issue with Terence Blacker's article, "It's embarrassing, but I'll miss George Bush" (Comment, 15 February). If we were still living in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps we could allow ourselves to find amusement, or even a certain sense of cruel pity, in a US President who was (as Mr Blacker put it) "socially and verbally clumsy ... catastrophically amateurish ... fallible ..." and "a normal, flawed human being ...".
But we live in 2007 and, since 1945, the American President has not only been the most politically powerful man in the world, but also potentially one of the most dangerous. He (or she) has their finger on the nuclear button that could wipe out not just America's supposed enemies but trigger the annihilation of every living thing on this planet.
And as if that thought alone was not terrifying enough, in George Bush's stubborn refusal to recognise or even engage with the possible dangers or consequences of environmental catastrophe or climate change, he has again imperilled all of us, including the citizens of "God's chosen country".
In the past, the US (like Britain) has had its fair share of incompetent presidential nincompoops, but now is not the moment in history to celebrate having another flawed ignoramus in the White House. We may still face the awful possibility of having a 72-year-old President McCain (with a history of heart problems) and – heaven forbid – a Vice-President Huckabee, a simpleton creationist who spurns science and believes the world is only 6,000 years old.
If we are still around in 50 years, some of us may well look back on the Bush presidency with a certain nostalgia, but only perhaps because after him came the deluge.
Garth Groombridge
Southampton, Hampshire
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-the-bush-presidency-is-far-from-amusing-it-is-terrifying-784144.html