Tuesday, October 07, 2008

The Bush Legacy: Barack Obama

Have you seen this man?

If things go the way they are looking, President Bush will be handing over the keys to the White House to Barack Obama and he will be largely to blame. With the nation in crisis financially, we needed someone to step up and lead this nation. Someone to reassure us but also to give us direction, someone to go before Congress and tell them what needed to be done instead of coming before them hat in hand like a beggar. Instead what we have gotten over the last few weeks, really over the last few years is a man who is the lamest of lame ducks, a man being carried along by the winds of change like a leaf in October.

Remember this guy?





Where did he go? He has been replaced by someone unrecognizable, someone who has been cowed by the media and the critics, someone who has let a greasy porkchop like Michael Moore and a raving lunatic like Keith Olbermann make him into a shadow. Love him or hate him, President Bush in the crisis days after September 11th was a leader. He was certain, he was firm and he had direction. We were in a crisis and he didn't hesitate to tell us that. He said it would be hard, and he said it would take time and he said it would require sacrifice. Like Ronald Reagan he was not interested in nuance, he was interested in results. Now, seven years later and facing a financial crisis, where is President Bush? His "leadership" is trying to push a boondoggle of a "bailout" through at a cost of hundreds of billions, and he failed to even do that until it was revamped with tons of pork spending to bring allegedly conscientious congressmen in line. He looks weak and is unable to support John McCain because McCain is fleeing from him as fast as Obama is trying to link them together.

There was a time when Americans would sacrifice for the greater good. When young men signed up to fight for their nation, and didn't decide later that they should pick and choose where to fight. There was a time when sacrifice didn't mean a 20 gig iPod instead of a 40 gig iPod. People gave up creature comforts and made sacrifices because we were in a crisis and we needed to pull together. Now? Now people want the nanny state. People know that McCain is more qualified to handle virtually any issue, but Obama makes them feel good. We are in a crisis but someone else, anyone else, needs to take responsibility. It isn't my fault I bought a house I couldn't afford! We desperately needed Bush to take charge, and he didn't. We needed John McCain to pick up the torch and he didn't. Is it any wonder that the gap between Obama and McCain is widening? No one cares about Bill Ayers, even though they should. They don't know who he even is. What they care about, right or wrong, is the economy and all they hear from the President is that the "economy is fundamentally stable", which it clearly is not. What they hear and see from McCain is more of the same Washington garbage. He should be running against Washington, and instead he is running against Bill Ayers.

If anyone sees the old President Bush, please tell him we need him back. Barring that we McCain to show the leadership I know he has. Tonight is the night, if he doesn't hammer Obama hard and show how dangerously naive and inexperienced he is, it is all over and we are looking at four years of neo-Marxist ideology in America.

2 comments:

Michael R. Jones said...

I was so proud of W after 9/11. Second term, not so much.

S.Faux said...

Arthur:

Good editorial. I pretty much agree with you. I am a conservative and I thought Bush was too, but the last four years hasn't been exactly my ideal version of a conservative government.

I too think Bush managed the beginning of the war well (9-11), but his management went down hill fast. There were missed opportunities to take out Osama Bin Laden. I think the war in Iraq was largely a distraction from the larger problem of Islamic extremism, especially in Afghanistan. (Even so, I am proud of my soldier son who served in the Middle East).

You and I probably can agree that America needs more of the Judeo-Christian ethic.

I am all for prayer in public-schools. I think local communities should have more say as to what is taught in their schools. Religion should NOT be taught as an embarrasing carry-over from the ancient past.

But, my larger point is that the country DOES seem to be going down hill. Even so, I am an optimist. There is always hope.