Thursday, February 03, 2005

Yoshihiro Tsurumi

Here's a story that was floating around for a few days back during the summer months in 2004. It received scant notice, but perhaps shines a bit of perspective on Maximum Leader being hell bent for leather to dismantle Social Security, Medicaid, and other social support programs:

TOKYO - A former teacher of U.S. President George Bush on Friday questioned his qualifications as president in an address to foreign reporters in Japan.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo, City University of New York prof. Yoshihiro Tsurumi said, "I always remember two groups of students. One is the really good students, not only intelligent, but with leadership qualities, courage. The other is the total opposite, unfortunately to which George belonged."

...He recalled a conversation with Bush when he met him soon after he arrived at Harvard.

..."In my class, he (Bush) declared that ’people are poor because they are lazy.’ He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare and public schools. To him, Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal was ’socialism,"’ Tsurumi said.

I find this profoundly disturbing, especially in light of Bush invoking the name of Roosevelt several times during his STFU speech last night. Disturbing, and unfortunately, prescient.