Thursday was the fifth anniversary of George W. Bush's memorable ship landing to proclaim "mission accomplished" in front of a banner bearing that message and to tell the world that hostilities were at an end in Iraq.
My, how time flies.
I didn't see too many observations of the anniversary. Certainly, the White House didn't go out of its way to bring attention to the fact that the troops are still in Iraq, five years later.
But the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a well-written editorial on the subject.
"There isn't a banner in this world that could sum up what we've really 'accomplished' in the Middle East," the Post-Intelligencer wrote.
Amen to that.
When Bush became president, he wanted to outdo his father. He succeeded in being re-elected, and that was something George H.W. Bush failed to do. But it's debatable whether Bush outperformed his father in other areas. He has a war in the Middle East that has lasted years instead of weeks, and he has an economy that is arguably worse than the one the elder Bush turned over to Bill Clinton 16 years ago.
The latest surveys indicate that Bush has set the record for the highest disapproval rating since pollsters have been measuring that factor. No president since the end of World War II had ever had more than 70% of respondents tell pollsters they didn't approve of his performance.
Not Harry Truman in the depths of his unpopularity in 1952. Not Richard Nixon on the eve of his resignation in 1974.
Not until George W. Bush in 2008.
CNN reported Thursday that Bush's disapproval rating had cracked the 70% mark. I haven't seen any other surveys that confirm it.
But a recent post from Gallup lends support to the conclusion. It reports that Bush's approval rating, as of April 18-20, stood at 28%.
And other surveys from Gallup clearly indicate that it isn't just the war in Iraq that's dragging Bush's disapproval rating to historic heights.
Gallup reports that one in five Americans believe gas prices will exceed $5/gallon sometime this summer.
Another Gallup survey reveals that 42% of Americans feel that high gas prices have reached a crisis level.
So I guess it should come as no surprise that seven of 10 people disapprove of Bush's job performance.
What is astonishing -- to me -- is that 62 million people voted for him in 2004.
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