Saying goodbye to Dubya! There, it's done, he's gone. I am so relieved. I listened to the swearing in and the Inaugural speech on my way to work and I screamed, honked and flailed my hands out the window. I cried and shouted with joy. This was an awesome and emotional experience and I am proud to be an American at this time. I've always been proud to be an American but Bush made it a little embarrassing at times. I will try to move past the Bush era but it will be hard to do because he has done so much harm to our country and our core strength. I don't really know how to put it any other way. I believe he really divided our country between the two parties. I had never, before him, felt so strongly against Republicans as I did during Bush's watch. I seriously felt anger toward people because they defended his Presidency or because they voted for him or watch Fox news. That's crazy that I would be mad at someone for siding with an asshole. Oh, wait, maybe that's not crazy... anyway, if someone says they prefer McCain over Obama it doesn't piss me off half as much as if they say they prefer Bush over anyone. I mean, wow, that's saying a lot. He made me mad and at the same time, I felt sorry for him in some weird kind of way. Then I think about all the shit that he fucked up and how there's not much he did right and I stop feeling sorry for him. I'm not trying to sound like a left-wing wacko but he really did not do anything that I can think of that helped this country. I even tried researching this a little and the list is short, really short. There are some things that are really a matter of opinion, such as, the "surge" in Iraq or the No Child Left Behind bill. I can tell you, having two children in elementary school, NCLB is not a good thing. The teachers are too focused on test scores and not focused on teaching the stuff that is truly valuable. They don't have enough time to stray a little and teach about character and creative art or music. They have said themselves that their curriculum is too big with star testing stuff and there isn't enough time to teach the kids about the kind of stuff we learned. ("you teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."... imagine if he hadn't tried to fix our education system). I know if I look a little longer, I'll find something he did right.
Ok, here's a few and I will have to read more into them to learn about them. Former President Bush, (oh, that is great... "former president"... fantastic), intergrated the executive branch. He had Condaleeza Rice and Colin Powell as his secretaries of state and Alberto Gonzales as attorney general. He is the first President to have "non-white" people in two of the 4 highest positions in the executive branch of our government. Ok, this is good, he's done stuff... what else?...
Gay people... he didn't do anything to change any of the laws that Clinton put into effect regarding gays. In fact, he did not turn away a gay family from the White House Easter Egg Hunt... (did not know that...). He signed a bill to give non-spousal couples the same federal pension standards as married couples. And he appointed a gay man as U.S. ambassador to Romania (did not know that either... good job Dubya...). However he still worried me because I thought he might try to change the constitution and have all the gays of the world shipped out of the country and forced to work for the Republican party digging ditches or decorating guns or cowboy hats... Ok, stretching for the humor is just as bad as being "misunderestimated"
Immigration reform: he did not deport all the illegal immigrants like his party would have liked him to do. That is good!
Now, the thing I keep hearing about is the protection Bush gave us. I love that little soundbyte that is overplayed by the right... "we have not been attacked since 9/11". This is true. But, we would not have been attacked on 9/11 had dumbass read his security briefing that he was given shortly before September 2001. Now, I'm sure there were a lot of threats but that's not good enough for me. Bin Ladin swore he would bankrupt our country and oh, look at that, we are in a huge economic meltdown. Did he do this? No, but going to Iraq didn't help us financially and the real cause of 9/11 is still living, breathing and potentially planning his next move and not in Iraq.
Now, let's get something clear, I do not blame George W. Bush for everything. The weather, the lottery numbers, the fact that my check engine light has been on for a year, my bad hair days, etc. But he does need to accept responsibility for a lot of shit that went down over the last eight years. This idea that his presidency was just fun and interesting is not acceptable. His denial that Katrina was mishandled is appalling, his torture policy that no-one is going to call him on ridiculous and the right wing pundits who keep defending him should just admit he fucked up. I have hope for our new president and I have hope for myself that I will swallow my bitter pill and let go of some of the hatred and blame that I have for G.W. Bush. I will write a more positive entry next time... somethings need to be said.
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