Bush is Botching $4.11, Just Like He Did 9/11

If a "crisis is a terrible thing to waste," then George Bush's reactions to 9/11 and the $4.11 average gas cost make him a doubly terrible leader, writes Tom Friedman in the New York Times. Instead of using rising gas costs to spur the nation to energy independence, "Our Decider decided to lift the executive orders banning (offshore) drilling—even though he knew this was a meaningless gesture," because of a Congressional moratorium.

Though he himself once kicked an alcohol addiction, Bush isn't leading the country in a direction that will cure what he has termed America's oil addiction. As Friedman writes, "When a person is addicted to crack cocaine, his problem is not that the price of crack is going up." America's problem is that it doesn't want to break its dangerous habit. (More George W. Bush stories.)