March 19, 2003 was an eventful day.

Unbeknownst to me, renowned Second Wave feminist Gloria Steinem was speaking at nearby Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville that evening.

That afternoon, President George Bush told America he was pitching us headlong into a preemptive strike against Iraq.

Listening to the man speak usually turns my stomach, and that day was no break from swallowing back the acid that bubbled to the surface at the sound of his voice. But I wasn’t going to let some coke-snorting, drunk-driving draft dodger get me down.

March 19, 2003 was my 21st birthday.

And while it is true that I drank one of every kind of mixed drink available in Charleston, forced nearly every one of my friends to make out with me, sang to whoever was listening at Jimmy John’s, made my friend Meghann a coupon for “free lesbian sex” written in mayonnaise on a napkin, threw up and passed out naked from the waist down on my bathroom floor, I would contend that Bush made the bigger fool of himself that day.

Whether or not one believes in the preemptive war doctrine is immaterial now. The fact is, our advance was based on intelligence that was sketchy at best. Maybe Bush didn’t know his “intelligence” about weapons of mass destruction, uranium in Niger and everything else was a load of crap. But should we take an excuse like that from our president?

As the leader of the free world, America’s president should be held responsible for intelligence failures-no excuses. And Bush has presided over arguably two of the largest intelligence failures in our history: a war based on a false premise and refusal to take seriously the TRUE intelligence that pointed to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Slightly more disturbing is the possibility that Bush flat-out lied about what he knew of Iraq’s military power.

Where is the ever-vigilant truth squad that crucified President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal? The man lied about something far less serious. What kind of citizenry are we if the only time we demand truth and accountability from our leaders is when the lie involves a quarter teaspoon of man goo?

President Bush owes the American people. I think he should step down and go into exile, but I admit I’m somewhat of an extremist. At the very least, we should be demanding a censure. Go to www.moveon.org/censure to send a message to our elected officials urging them to censure Bush for misleading us.

While a censure doesn’t come with any formal consequences, it sends a message that the American people aren’t going to get snowed by an “independent inquiry” and that we hold our leaders to a higher standard of honesty.

Censure Bush now, and deny him the vote in November. It may be the only way to prove to him that he isn’t ordained by God to lead our proud nation into disrepair.