I was just reading a little article, which is what prompted this little post, but I just have a few words to say on our past President. Right now the world judges President Bush as a man who essentially ruined a nation. He took the nation into a war, and doubled the national deficit, and people believe he threw us into an economic recession which threatens to evolve into a second Great Depression. However, there is one outstanding fact that most people seem to skip over in their remarks on President Bush. Mainly that he protected this nation. It's almost as if people have forgotten what happened on 9/11, that our nation was in fact attacked by terrorists, and that many many people died. The war we have been involved in for the past years has been a war that has been determined to protect the American people, and those who lived under the oppression of those terrorists for so many years, his actions helped to free a nation. President Bush also made a rather striking statement which seems to throw all of his actions and their consequences into a perspective that it seems few people see he stated,
"As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe. "
So, even though Bush left office with such low approval ratings, his vow, promise, covenant, was to protect the people that despised him and wanted nothing more than for him to leave office to enter into an era of "change". Little did those people realize he was keeping them safe. I believe that history will judge President Bush a little differently than people do now. He is a man that did his best, under horrible circumstances, to protect the American people and ensure the free speech and liberties that we enjoy and that were so often used to belittle him and his position. Sure he made mistakes, as all Presidents do, but he did his best, he fulfilled his duty and protected the American people, and above all he was an integrous President, he stuck to his values and convictions, and he acted on what he believed was morally right, and in a world where morals seem to shift with the slightest breeze, well I think that's pretty impressive and noteworthy.
7 comments:
Dick Cheney made a prediction. He said that Obama would get into office and discover that Bush had been right all along when it came to defending the country.
Obama has been in office about a month now, and it's clear that he and the Democrats are learning that governing is harder than campaigning. Oh, well, as long as Bush is President we can just blame him... wait... he's not president anymore.
You'll notice that the economic problems started in 2006 after the Democrats were elected to Congress. While the 2008 elections were a backlash against the GOP, the real perpetrators of the economic crisis are the Democrats. We elected those responsible for our suffering and gave them a mandate to make things better. What did they give us? This stimulus package, which consists of $787 billion of pork spending and earmarks. At least Bush's bailout was designed to help the economy.
Amen brother, I agree 100% Bush was an awesome president! Our lovely media seems to have only pointed out the worst in him... by only showing the bombings and terrorist attacks, and terrible things that happen, people unfortunately don't realize how many GREAT things he did... and all of the good things that happen in Iraq... plus it has become extremely important to me, to respect the President. I don't have to agree with what they do all of the time, but they do deserve respect!
I agree that Bush was trying his hardest to protect the nation, and that his terms were marked with immense difficulties. But come on, lets not play the blame game with the whole economic downturn that has been going on... Both parties, and leaders, are attempting to resolve the issue the way they know best, so lets support who we elected, democrat or republican, and try to show some bipartisianship!
Yeah I didn't really mention anything about the economy, I was just saying maybe everyone should show a little more respect to Bush.
I just listened to a report on the BBC where leading economists said that they wish President Bush were still in office to deal with the economic crisis, because his Administration was one of action, not one of say-everything-do-nothing.
I have nothing against our current President - in fact, I'm not too sure Senator McCain would be doing a better job if he had been elected. What I'm saying is that the Democrats have spent the last few years bashing Bush, and now that Bush is gone they don't really know what to do.
The Democrats can do a fine job running the country. Democratic administrations have done so in the past, and there will be Democratic administrations that will do so in the future. The current Democratic congressional administration - Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid et al. - has shown over the past two years that they are inept and incompetent. Hopefully, once Obama recovers from his past month (which, you'll all agree, has been rough for him) he'll be able to whip some sense into his Congressional colleagues.
If you haven't been following Congressional affairs, allow me to recap for you. Their approval ratings right now makes President Bush look popular. The stimulus package ($787 billion - and has been called "counterproductive" by the economists interviewed by the McClatchy news service, which is a less-well-known version of Reuters and the Associated Press) was written not by Obama but by Pelosi. It failed to get any GOP votes in the House - that's bipartisanship for you - and only got three in the Senate.
I'm all for bipartisanship. The Opposition did not give it to our President over the past eight years. I am inclined to give it to Obama but not the Democrats in Congress who have screwed things up so much. So, sure, I'll support Obama. I won't chant "na na na na, hey hey hey, good-bye" on January 20, 2013 when a GOP president sticks his hand on the Bible and assumes the Chief Magistracy, and I won't call him all sorts of names, badmouth him in front of news cameras, and make fun of his every move. That's already more than the American people - or the media - have given President George W. Bush. However, I reserve the right to disagree with the President while maintaining my respect for the office.
It sorta bugs me when people say, "You can't get mad at Obama, he's the President." (See my TOK class for similar quotes.) Well, people, if the world had shown a bit more respect for President Bush because he was the President, then I might accept that there could possibly maybe be a very little hypothetical bit of somewhat plausible support for that statement.
See where I'm coming from?
I love ranting! Haha, sorry for the length of that one.
Haha don't worry about it Jeffrey, I love when you express your thoughts.... quite frankly, I wish you were in my TOK class! I, like the majority of Americans, have not been exactly pleased with the actions of congress in recent months. But, I plan on giving them the same respect I gave Bush, and am giving Obama. Personally, I enjoyed his address to congress last night, but wished that Governor Jindal didn't give the GOP response like he was talking to third graders... Maybe he stepped it up, but I had turned off the tv after his cliche "Americans Can Do Anything!" Anyways, it will be interesting to see what Congress can pass, and what Obama will do during the rest of first 100 days...
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