Days Gone By

Remember the day when even the French were declaring "Nous Sommes Tous Americain" (we are all Americans)? Nowadays nobody wants to be an American:

"Nearly five years after the attacks on 9/11, American diplomacy has succeeded not in isolating the terrorists, but the United States," said James Dobbins, a former White House and State Department official with years of experience in the Middle East.

Almost five years since 9/11, it's worth looking back at Bush's First 100 Days in office (that is, before 9/11, which was Day 234).

Talk about a taste of things to come. The early emphasis was on war and money...

On day 20, President Bush sent his record-setting $1.6 trillion tax cut plan to Congress...

On day 24, Bush proposed increasing military spending by $5 billion...

On Day 28m Bush ordered military strikes against Iraq. American bombs destroyed radar stations near the capital, Baghdad, killing two people, according to the government of Iraq.

Then there was the big environment flip-flop...

On day 50, Bush advisers said they supported reducing carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants to fight global warming.

But eight days later, President Bush reversed this policy, saying "greener" plants would cost power companies too much money.

On day 60, the administration reversed a rule reducing the levels of arsenic in drinking water.

On day 67, Christine Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the president had decided to reject the Kyoto Treaty, an international agreement to fight global warming that President Clinton had signed in 1997.

And a sign of how the intransigent Bush would flounder on international diplomacy:

On day 73, a U.S. Spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet off the coast of China. The Chinese pilot was killed, and the damaged American plane had to make an emergency landing on unfriendly Chinese soil. Twenty four U.S. Crew members were held there for 11 days.

The U.S. And China blamed each other for the crash and the standoff lasted for nearly two weeks.

By day 82, President Bush sent a letter to the China saying the U.S. was "very sorry," but did not say that the U.S. caused the crash (a point the Chinese insisted on).