The Long Lost ERA of the Bush Administration By: Mark W Adams

No surprise that Bush apologists are making a concerted effort to rewrite the history of the last decade in order to put their leader (and themselves) in a better light.  What is surprising is the subconscious internalization of the rest of us to push the time period that only ended three short months ago into a wholly different "era," things that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Not to minimize the titanic accomplishments of President Obama's first hundred days in office, or the truly inspirational vision he has initiated with progress and initiatives aimed at real reform, but the "Bush Era" wasn't all that long ago, not all that much has changed, a disturbing number of policy decisions by the Obama administration are very Bush-like indeed -- and like the Holocaust, some things must never be forgotten.

And yet, we see that phrase "Bush Era," coming from mainstream media as much as lefty blogs.  Are we instinctively acclimated to the notion that we have moved on, already are looking forward instead of backward -- even as some of us argue that failing to hold those accountable who plunged us into an economic catastrophuque or who authorized and committed war crimes and illegally spied on Americas is fraught with dangerous precedent and only serves to turn a blind eye to a festering wound?

Truthdig:

After key Bush era CIA torture documents were released by the Obama administration, human rights officials are dismayed at the news that CIA agents who ordered and conducted torture will not be prosecuted... 

Ezra Klein, channeling Jeffrey Toobin:

Bybee is generally the forgotten man in torture studies of the Bush era. The best known of the legal architects of the torture regime is John Yoo, who was a deputy to Bybee. 

Rachel Maddow Discuss the Bush-era Torture Memos with Jonathan Turley

And not just the newly released torture Memos.  Not a lefty per se, but Jazz Shaw of the Moderate Voice on domestic threats:

Obama Fails to Stop Bush Era Targeting of Veterans

Bob Cesca notes the wingnut reaction to the Homeland Security report on right-wing extremists, but like many misses the fact that it's DHS and not the Pentagon who is targeting civilians, which is probably a good development.

Homeland Security has apparently issued a report about right wing extremist groups and Michelle Malkin is shocked that the anti-terror programs of the Bush era -- programs that she supported for years -- have actually begun to include far-right extremists.

The Nation on Katrina revisionist history:

One of the more deeply twisted--and, one would have hoped, now thoroughly discredited--right-wing storylines of the Bush era is currently enjoying a comeback: all that chaos and suffering after Hurricane Katrina, all those people stranded on rooftops, left to die in jail cells and swelter in the Superdome, that was big government's fault!

Yglesias on Afghanistan, quoting, correcting, but not objecting to the framing by The American Conservative:

Simply substitute Iraq for Afghanistan, and what we get is the war policy of the Bush era. 

Josh Marshall on the Franken/Coleman recount litigation:

As one GOP operative told The Hill, "They allowed the legal proceedings to define the media environment."

In many ways, that statement might serve as a fitting coda for the Bush Era: insufficient bamboozlement allowed reality to hold the day.

Honestly, was it all that long ago?  Really?

I think this mental construct might be so pervasive, reflecting a deeply held desire to forget the constant calamity of the ... Bush era.  No doubt the right will be all too eager to help us forgive and forget, so they can do it all over again.