Bush earned his smirk

As Jeb Bush called his brother up to bat for his flagging campaign, I noticed that George W. still sports his signature smirk. Some have decried the ex-president for that arrogant, self-satisfied expression, but I say that he has totally earned it.

After all, he and his cohorts pulled off some of the greatest scams in American political history: the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, the derivatives debacle and the economic meltdown, to name the most egregious. And they got away with it. Why shouldn’t he strut and smirk?

The former president and his associates have neither apologized nor atoned for their myriad offenses against their citizens and the world community, perhaps because they and their ilk reaped huge financial windfalls from their machinations. Americans will long suffer the effects of their actions.

Like the Cheshire Cat’s grin, the smirk will continue to gleam over the American scene long after the face that launched it has disappeared from view.

Dick Warwick

Oakesdale