A rejection of Bush policies

Re “The lasting failure of George W. Bush,” Opinion, Nov. 7

Ronald Brownstein’s thesis is a distraction from a far greater danger. George W. Bush’s legacy should not be his incompetence. His failures are the direct result of his unenlightened embrace of deeply dysfunctional governing principles. Under his administration, fellow conservatives and Republicans embraced the idea that one could safely use war, torture, fear and irresponsibility to serve greater political ends.

Many people around the world, some of them extraordinarily good American citizens, continue to suffer and die for those ideas. Many intelligent, liberal-minded people raised their voices against the obvious mistakes of Bush’s unfolding legacy. Their wise counsel was ignored, ridiculed or even vilified.

Now, Barack Obama’s election may signal the

waning of Bush’s influence, but it is dangerous to misunderstand Bush’s errors as nothing more than inept politics. To do so would allow the unenlightened politician of the future to exceed Bush’s mistakes with the same

deeply dysfunctional principles.

Daniel Brooks

Los Angeles

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Not only did the results of the 2008 American presidential election confirm that the American electorate had an unfavorable opinion of Bush’s approach in handling the American economy and wars, but, even more important, it revealed a rejection of the Bush-Rove doctrine that a successful political campaign and presidency could include the dissemination of false and misleading information.

Marc Jacobson

Los Angeles