So long, and good riddance to mediocrity
And with that, I bid adieu to America's 43rd President and his mediocre administration.
The moment couldn't have come sooner, and perhaps we will be spending years smarting from the effects of Bush's disastrous policies. But reflecting on how short the human memory is, his mistakes will only slip into the history books as footnotes and dry text, and not the sheer incompetencies and ignorance that has led America into the greatest financial crisis of its time, mired in a world that is increasingly anti-American and hostile, begetting a new sort of warfare, where the enemy has no care for itself. Truth be told, the world isn't safer than it has been since September 11, 2001.
But rather than detail the errors of the Bush administration, which I'm sure a simple Google search would do, I believe that we should learn from our mistakes and make sure such a travesty never happens ever again.
Looking back into 1999 and 2000, one has to wonder what made Bush the choice for president? And even if one was to simply dismiss his good fortune, and our bad fortune, to faulty balloting in Florida, then how did he get re-elected again in 2004? Maybe it wasn't so clear then, that he was leading a war against terror and maybe we just needed to give him more time to sort things out. But then, by the time Hurricane Katrina struck landfall, the inefficiencies of the administration could be tolerated no longer, and damned be the war in Iraq, if America's leader cannot even save his own people from a natural disaster.
Maybe President George W. Bush was just unlucky to have two calamitous events strike in his term. But that's the thing; does America ever want a leader who is unprepared for the worst?
In America, brought about by long decades of scandals and conspiracies, and notions that the elite is ruling America from behind the scenes in ivory towers, there is nothing bigger than the distrust for institutionalized knowledge, woefully played up by the political bozos and attempt to reach out to the average Joe.
The epitome of this ideology is the question that voters are asked, "Which presidential candidate do you rather have a beer with?"
My answer would be damn, hell, if the candidate has time for a beer with me, then he's not doing his job running the country. I don't want a president that I can relate to, or a leader I can watch a game with. I just want a competent guy that can do his job better than the other candidate. So what if he's more out of touch, or so what if he's a black man, or a white woman, or even a closet-crossdresser. It's time we judge a candidate on the merits of his abilities, and less on his association with Joe the Plumber or the general public.
And that's exactly how I believe we should remember Bush as he steps out of office on January 20th, 2009. That he is a warning to future generations that we shouldn't let anyone just waltz into the White House, and come out eight years later, no worse for wear and wholly unaccountable for his more than questionable policies.
So what if the president is a person we can most identify with? Toss out some statistics, that 30% of Americans come from broken homes and 50% of marriages end in divorce, and it's really embarrassing and speaks volumes about failed parenting to raise an unwed teenage mother. The average American is also overweight, makes under $50k a year, forgets to do his taxes and doesn't even have a college education. The average American also doesn't own a passport, can't point Iraq out on a map and definitely can't see Russia from his backyard. In fact, any inkling of what an average American is like, should send shivers down your spine because that's not the sort of guy you'd want staring down terrorists or dealing with rogue nations or despots keen on acquiring nuclear weapons.
It's time for a little dose of realism of what the job is really about, and let's face it, guys; average isn't the best choice for president after all.
The moment couldn't have come sooner, and perhaps we will be spending years smarting from the effects of Bush's disastrous policies. But reflecting on how short the human memory is, his mistakes will only slip into the history books as footnotes and dry text, and not the sheer incompetencies and ignorance that has led America into the greatest financial crisis of its time, mired in a world that is increasingly anti-American and hostile, begetting a new sort of warfare, where the enemy has no care for itself. Truth be told, the world isn't safer than it has been since September 11, 2001.
But rather than detail the errors of the Bush administration, which I'm sure a simple Google search would do, I believe that we should learn from our mistakes and make sure such a travesty never happens ever again.
Looking back into 1999 and 2000, one has to wonder what made Bush the choice for president? And even if one was to simply dismiss his good fortune, and our bad fortune, to faulty balloting in Florida, then how did he get re-elected again in 2004? Maybe it wasn't so clear then, that he was leading a war against terror and maybe we just needed to give him more time to sort things out. But then, by the time Hurricane Katrina struck landfall, the inefficiencies of the administration could be tolerated no longer, and damned be the war in Iraq, if America's leader cannot even save his own people from a natural disaster.
Maybe President George W. Bush was just unlucky to have two calamitous events strike in his term. But that's the thing; does America ever want a leader who is unprepared for the worst?
In America, brought about by long decades of scandals and conspiracies, and notions that the elite is ruling America from behind the scenes in ivory towers, there is nothing bigger than the distrust for institutionalized knowledge, woefully played up by the political bozos and attempt to reach out to the average Joe.
The epitome of this ideology is the question that voters are asked, "Which presidential candidate do you rather have a beer with?"
My answer would be damn, hell, if the candidate has time for a beer with me, then he's not doing his job running the country. I don't want a president that I can relate to, or a leader I can watch a game with. I just want a competent guy that can do his job better than the other candidate. So what if he's more out of touch, or so what if he's a black man, or a white woman, or even a closet-crossdresser. It's time we judge a candidate on the merits of his abilities, and less on his association with Joe the Plumber or the general public.
And that's exactly how I believe we should remember Bush as he steps out of office on January 20th, 2009. That he is a warning to future generations that we shouldn't let anyone just waltz into the White House, and come out eight years later, no worse for wear and wholly unaccountable for his more than questionable policies.
So what if the president is a person we can most identify with? Toss out some statistics, that 30% of Americans come from broken homes and 50% of marriages end in divorce, and it's really embarrassing and speaks volumes about failed parenting to raise an unwed teenage mother. The average American is also overweight, makes under $50k a year, forgets to do his taxes and doesn't even have a college education. The average American also doesn't own a passport, can't point Iraq out on a map and definitely can't see Russia from his backyard. In fact, any inkling of what an average American is like, should send shivers down your spine because that's not the sort of guy you'd want staring down terrorists or dealing with rogue nations or despots keen on acquiring nuclear weapons.
It's time for a little dose of realism of what the job is really about, and let's face it, guys; average isn't the best choice for president after all.
