Opinion
In politics and baseball, Bush fails
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Also by Sean Kittridge:
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- Wiscard good for UW's funds, bad for students' (June 13, 2009)
- Scared straight: Use fear to force police into enforcement equality (June 5, 2009)
- Selig sets horrific example for undergraduates (May 5, 2009)
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In a few short months, the Bush presidency will officially end. Like a dormitory resident after spring finals, George W. Bush will pack up his Zeppelin posters, disassemble his futon and leave Washington, D.C., for the friendly confines of Crawford, Texas. But while the nation continues to berate his eight years in office as a reign of terror and possibly the worst in American history, the good people of the Lone Star State know better. They knew George W. Bush had a strong track record of running large entities into the ground, and it all started in 1989 with the Texas Rangers. If poor decision-making and questionable associations are truly qualities to be feared in a president, we should’ve seen this coming a decade away. Nothing says “Do you know who my Dad is?” like the purchase of a baseball team. In April of 1989, shortly after his father took office in Washington, George W. Bush assembled a coalition of the willing to buy the Texas Rangers. It’s debatable whether or not he thought Chuck Norris could DH, but it was well known the Rangers were a terrible organization. Much like in 2001, when an annoyed American public looked to the new president to take the country out of Clinton’s forgettable last years, George sought to change the culture in Texas. And in both instances, he’d do it by making the public pay.
As an alleged fiscal conservative, President Bush was supposed to be about spending less and shrinking the government, ideas that led many right-leaning voters to elect him. But wars cost money, secret wiretapping operations expand the government and many people now claim Bush wasn’t the Republican they thought he’d be. Truth is, they didn’t do their homework, as W. is nothing but a model of consistency. The construction of The Ballpark in Arlington, a new baseball stadium approved in 1992 with $191 million in public funding, is testament to Bush’s willingness to spend the taxpayer’s dollar. Unfortunately, it’s also indicative of his inability to make sound decisions.
Miller Park has a roof because people don’t like watching baseball when it’s 30 degrees in April. Minute Maid Park, located in Houston and home to the Astros, has a roof because people don’t like watching baseball when it’s 95 degrees and humid in July. The Ballpark in Arlington, built in the suburbs of Dallas/Ft. Worth, has no roof. When it comes to running a baseball franchise, much like running a country, it’s important to keep the people happy. They’re the ones who buy tickets, and they’re the ones who keep you in office. By building a roofless stadium 20 miles outside of Dallas, Bush all but guaranteed himself that attendance would suffer. Decline wasn’t evident during Bush’s time as managing general partner, as a new stadium will keep people interested for a few years, but in 2008 the Rangers fell half a million people below the average American League attendance. Of course, people will always come to see a winning team, and while Bush botched the stadium, maybe he could design a championship club.
As of today, the Rangers have zero World Series appearances. I’d say Georgie failed there, too. But even though he did not build a championship team, he did build one with a slew of shady characters. Baseball’s steroid era affected every team, and most players associated with juicing are merely connected by rumor, but it’s hard to put faith in a franchise that, while Bush was at the helm, employed Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez. This is a cast of players who make Karl Rove appear moral, and they all received paychecks from the future 43rd president of the United States.
The United States is much more complex than a baseball team, and comparing the two effectively can take a bit of stretching. But George W. Bush, as both managing general partner of the Rangers and president of the United States, demonstrated a consistent inability to lead effectively. Arnold Schwarzenegger might not be the greatest choice for governor, but at least “Kindergarten Cop” was funny. George Bush’s professional career is nothing more than a series of swings and misses, and as a baseball man, he knows that’s not good. It’s been 13 years since Bush stepped away from the Rangers to serve as governor of Texas, and the team is still a perennial cellar dweller. If America suffers a similar fate, we should probably find a new national pastime.
Sean Kittridge (kittridge@wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in journalism.
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I hate domed stadiums. Thank God the Ballpark in Arlington was built as an open-air stadium.
Also, the Rangers had a lot more success during Bush’s years owning the team than they’ve had in recent years. Get your facts straight.
Hey Sean!
Dincha hear? We have a new “Ruler” for the good old USA. That’s right. The Annointed One is ‘ready to rule from day one’. http://media.newsbusters.org/stories/obama-spokesman-says-obama-ready-rule-day-1.html?q=blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/11/10/obama-spokesman-says-obama-ready-rule-day-1
We have to deal right now with the Obama depression. Every time The Annointed One speaks of raising taxes, the market drops like a stone. Maybe you ought to ‘report’ on that? Or that “Ruler” thingy?
Or how about the $800 million in unaccounted campaign contributions to The Annointed Ones election fraud - ahem, I mean fund? They are still collecting “contributions” for the transition team today! Before you say “They were all legal!” ask yourself “How do I know?”. The answer is “You don’t!” None of us do. And the dumbest thing we can do is trust a politician from the corrupt Chicago/Mayor Daley democrat machine!
Your playing in the sand box while real news stories go begging. But what the heck, we’ve got a new Ruler! That’s all that matters….
Invictus Maneo
No attacks on US soil since 9-11?
I blame Bush!
Obama may change that.
Was that the change you wanted?
This article is garbage. Do you think that the Rangers sub-500 record had anything to do with the lack of attendance? Or how about the fact that the Angels clinched the AL West by the all-star break? Perennial cellar dweller? Finished second in their division last year.
And as to all the players to cite, I expect articles on how all the other owners of all other teams that these players played for are scum.
And only 8 of 30 MLB teams have domes. I expect articles on how all of the other 22 teams/owners hate their fans for not building domed stadiums for their teams.
“Bush all but guaranteed that attendance will suffer.” I am guessing you are the typical lib and no nothing about sports/athletic activity. Lets see what happens to that attendance if the Rangers are in a playoff race.
I didn’t like this column.
what a load of crap. Can’t you writeers come up with anything better to write about. I thought polictics in the campus papers was on vay-cay.
there’s a lot to criticize about Bush, but your column just goes way over the top. Baseball stadiums weren’t built with retractable roofs back when the Ballpark was being built. Plus, a roof would have cost much more money, probably taxpayer. In addition, what stadiums aren’t financed by tax dollars (excluding J. Jones and the Cowboys)? Criticize the guy for leading the country into an improper war, spending way too much, and not overall being an efficient leader. Fine. But to compare stuff like employing Jose Canseco to Karl Rove? The Herald has hit a low. And you have a long way to go as a journalist. This column is pure trash.