Incoherent Goals, Incompetent Management

Will the republic survive another 2+ years of this administration? They are zealots without a cause, managers without a clue.
Economy: Any hope of restraining Federal spending is now long past. Instead, the Federal Government has grown faster than ever. Comparisons to drunken sailors are unfair – to the sailors – because they are spending their own money. After inheriting a big surplus, the administration's promise of even halving their enormous debt by 2008 is delusional. Individually, in 2005 Americans spent more than they earned, a “negative savings rate” of -0.5%. In plain English, individual debt increased for the first time since the great depression. Once upon a time, anxious economic conservatives were ignored because “we owed our national debt to ourselves”. This fairy tale needs updating.
Education: see under: Testing. How can education, which is based on curiosity, have a hope when the country is “led” by such an incurious George? Likewise, the value of training, which is based on mastering “life skills”, is undermined when a Trust fund or a winning lottery ticket appear to be the most certain paths to success.
Security: After a wake-up call that even this administration couldn't ignore, their only genius was engaged. Their fear mongering has yielded enormous returns for their crony capitalists and political hacks. Now they're surprised that Americans are fearful of selling our ports to Arabs! (Dubai? Don't sell!) We need to be confident of the cargo allowed to enter the ports and we need plans to interdiction suspicious ships well out on the high seas. Screening cargo as it leaves the port is way too late. Sadly, Katrina has exposed the failure to plan for emergency. You can almost hear them testifying before the next Commission, “Nobody ever thought that terrorists would use ships to attack American ports.”
Iraq: The elected leaders cannot form a government. The leading clerics, who are keeping the country together, won't even meet with American representatives. God help them and our troops. According to the CIA, the most likely outcome remains a civil war. Will Turkey be destabilized by a incipient Kurdistan? There are worries enough for today. We'll leave this for the next administration (like Vietnam was left).
Middle East: We prescribe democracy for all trouble spots regardless of what ails them, unless the wrong candidates win. In Haiti, we forced the democratically elected President Aristide from office. In Venezuela, we have pressured and threatened the democratically elected President Hugo Chavez because of his socialist policies and refusal to kowtow to the US. We call for regime change in Iran, which has a functioning democracy. We pressure and threaten the newly-elected leaders of the Palestinians. The pattern is unmistakable and shameful.
Darfur: The administration happy talks about bringing the bounty of democracy and women's rights to Iraq. For a 0.1% of the cost, we could at least try to slow or stop the genocide, mass raping, and displacement of some of the poorest people on earth. Here, the administration defers to the Europeans. For some, this would reflect a genuine interest in cooperation. For this cabal of unlateralists, the translation is: we don't care.
Mexico: Is there any awareness in this administration of just how pervasive illegal immigrants are in this country? Senior Bush was ridiculed when he visited a grocery store and was amazed by the (amazing) scanners in the checkout. Junior Bush should visit Home Depot or Lowe's. Home improvement stores casually suggest “picking up a few Mexicans” for construction projects! What is the point of spending billions to control legal immigration if hordes of illegal immigrants pour into the country every day? How can less skilled Americans hope to find work when employers can pay much less to compliant illegals? (And may God bless them, too, but that is a topic for the future.)
Global Warming: Very few scientists doubt that man's activities have changed the atmosphere and will lead to even more dramatic changes in weather. This administration listens has blocked even baby steps to slowing the release of greenhouse gasses. The title of this website, antediluvian, seems all the more appropriate (but not prescient).
Space Exploration: This is a highly visible example of this administration's approach to the science and technology upon which our economic competitiveness is founded. They talk big about building stations on the moon and sending a manned mission to Mars. Meanwhile, “back on Earth”, there is no replacement for the aging and faltering shuttle fleet, which will be retired in the next few years. Money is drained from future programs to pay for retrofitting the remaining shuttles to keep them flying.

Is there even one ethical, moral, or practical principle guiding this administration?