Kathryn Jean Lopez: Don't blame Bush for these

sacbee.com

* President Bush lied, people died: There are so many facts worth noting on this front, including that in its joint resolution authorizing the war in Iraq in 2002, Congress acknowledged that "the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people." That remains a fact - both that Saddam Hussein had, in fact, used weapons of mass destruction against his own people and that the majority of Congress agreed that that was a fact and that in his willingness to have and use WMDs, the Iraqi tyrant was indeed a threat to us.

* Bush hates black people: I got hooked on the PG version of "Golddigger," as much as the next radio listener, but Kanye West is digging deep and with very little to go on when he rants that a racist White House let blacks suffer as Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf coast. There is a lot of finger-pointing to go around, but the tragic story of Katrina has more to do with local corruption, bad infrastructure and bureaucratic bungling than racism. Levee design flaws, dating back to 1993, were also not Bush's fault. Yet, we continue to hear that Katrina was a racist "genocide" perpetrated by the Bush administration.

* The economy is in the tank: Growth and jobs and the stock market are up. Unemployment is down and hovering near historical lows. While the Fed has raised short-term interest rates several times to stave off inflation, long rates remain low. And the so-called housing bubble has yet to pop. Even the New York Times - no parrot of White House talking points - has had to admit that the economy is "booming."

* Bush took August off: He's the president of the United States. We're at war. He meets with foreign dignitaries, communicates and has Cabinet members at the ranch. And the media's there to yell at him like always. He's working. Every day in Crawford is a day at the office.

The list could go on, as it might at your celebrations. But you're on guard now. Maybe you'll be lucky. Look at Kanye across the table and remind him of all those unused buses in New Orleans - the ones that could have evacuated people, but were instead left to sit in a flooded lot. Then maybe you can both retire to the living room for Scrabble or xeroxing at the office.