File photo President George W. Bush

We are paying the price for those who said they never made mistakes and then made more than anyone ever thought might happen, to the detriment of the nation. Those of us who voted for Al Gore for President the first time and/or John Kerry the second time can't say "I told you so" because we are now too worried about keeping ourselves afloat to point fingers. Besides we need our family and friends so that we can survive together. My biggest concern eight years ago when Bush was running for election the first time was having an individual as President who said he never made a mistake. That famous phrase in relationship to capital punishment and the number of individuals put to death in Texas made me worry about the future if Bush were elected President. Bush had made no apology and admitted no mistake and that became the consistent statement throughout Bush's tenure for the next eight years following his election as President of the United States. The War in Iraq was predicated on Saddam Hussein and his henchmen having weapons of mass destruction. Bush and Cheney made a pitch to the Congress, and a willing nation, fearful of terrorists and needing a father to protect them and someone to believe in, applauded the move to go to war. This was in the face of nearly every religious leader being opposed to it and other countries declaring that they had found no evidence or that there was insufficient evidence to attack Iraq. But that was what happened, and Bush remained, not chagrined, but rather defiant throughout his tenure for bringing the United States to attack another nation, something that was contrary to the dictum of the nation, to its history and to the promises made along the way. Bush said, as he did before and afterwards, that he never makes a mistake. Now the country is enmeshed in a complicated war, that will likely result in a fractured Iraq with sectarian groups that will continue to struggle for power infinitely, as has been the pattern of much of the Middle East. Climate change was denied by Bush, so nothing significant was ever done about it. Eight years of doing nearly nothing results now in eight years of changes that continue to affect the world, bringing about major storms and climate conditions that scientists say may create serious andlong-lasting consequences. But science had nothing to say to Bush who turned his back on those predictions and manned his administration with naysayers who either ignored, insulted or dismissed anyone who spoke out against the administration's position of maintaining that climate change was a notion led by liberal simpletons who didn't want a great nation strengthened by industry and oil. An economic model that is maintained on laissez faire appears like a mountain of sawdust without essential integrity and able to crumble into pieces, which has happened not only to the United States but other countries dependent upon the country establishing a strong financial foundation. Bush and Cheney held to free markets until it became late enough that the problem was already upon us. A recession that may deepen into a serious depression looks ominously on a horizon already crowded with many other serious problems that Bush and Cheney leave as their legacy to make it nearly impossible for the next President to have any level of success or independent decision with a clean, clear path for it. Farewell to Bush-Cheney as they say goodbye to us. Their platitudes with no apologies showed Bush squandering those "credits" he said he had and was going to spend. He now admits "mistakes were made" in that generic sense that assumes no responsibility, and that is the worst shame of all. Because that inability to admit mistakes meant that they continued and no one or nothing could turn them around. The old, the young, the poor, the minorities will face the worst consequences of this "I don't make mistakes" philosophy that allowed mistakes to be repeated frequently. So I have no sympathy for someone who admits them years too late. My advice is to leave quietly and humbly and, as the saying goes, don't let the swinging door that has left the rest of us in the cold hit you on the way out.