No George Washington.

• Author: Rothschild, Matthew

Bush's grandiosity is getting embarrassing. He likes to compare himself to the greats, but he doesn't measure up. On President's Day, for instance, he went to Mount Vernon. "This is the home of the first George W.," he said. And he compared "George Washington's long struggle for freedom" with his own military adventures.

Bush cited Washington's Farewell Address as support for these adventures. But such support is hard to find if you examine that address. Here are some of things that Washington said there:

"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all."

"Cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace."

"Permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded."

He cautioned against "projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives."

And, 165 years before Eisenhower, he warned against "overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."

Washington underscored the need for the Constitution to be "sacredly maintained," calling it "obligatory upon all."

He particularly warned against "usurpation" by one branch of government over another. He called this "the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed."

In fact, he referred to it as "real despotism."

In his Second Inaugural Address (which Bush wisely didn't mention), Washington was clear about what should happen to a President who does not uphold the Constitution.

"If it shall be found during my administration of the government I have in any instance violated willingly or...