Bush's Closing Argument: Was Anybody Listening?
President George W. Bush said farewell to the nation, but the nation wasn't paying attention. TV barely cut to him in time for his first words Thursday evening and couldn't wait to cut away when he finished 13 minutes later. Something unexpected and awesome had happened to shoulder him out of the picture: a jet gliding to a stop in the middle of the Hudson River, with everyone emerging safely. The departure of President Bush, by contrast, had become part of the world's mental wallpaper some time ago.
I wasn't listening, but I wish I had.
With all the disgusting things going on in the D.C. with Obama inauguration —Can you even guess how much he spent? $100 million more than Bush! Obama is the vindication to my mantra, "Yes, Bush wasn't perfect, but a Democrat would have been worse"—I just tuned out everything political.
Now I wish I hadn't.
Edit:
"Why'd the financial collapse have to happen on my watch?"
Amen. The fact of the matter is, no matter how much the ignorant public want to pretend otherwise, the matters of economics are seldom a result of the presidential action. Yes, the Iraq war (which Bush deserves all the credit for) probably strained the federal budget a little—but given the figures being floated around for "bailout", which, at $1 trillion is several times more than what the war has cost in total, it's hard to believe that the war was actually responsible for the current state of the economy (which I still believe isn't as bad as the liberal media claims it is—it's nowhere near the soup kitchens of the Great Depression).
If anything, the Congress more often bears the responsibility for the economic welfare, and even then, the government is far more often responsible for hurting the economy (and preventing a recovery) than saving it.
The same will be true next 4 years. Obama may have made history, but he is not a god and nor will he change the natural flow of history—that is, the government is seldom a keen observer of the economic flow and change; where the government meddles (like in the housing market), the government harms.