Bush's legacy will be seen by the majority of historians as one of the great failures in U.S. Presidential history. Eight months into his administrations, he ignored credible warnings and sat frozen in an elementary school seat as Americans watched in horror as the worst attack in U.S. history unfolded before their very eyes on television. More than six years later, the masterminds of this atrocity are still living large in parts unknown, probably planning out more such spectacular attacks in the future. Instead of tracking these vermin down, Bush picked a fight he viewed as easy against a ruthless despot. But this particular ruthless despot had no more to do with 9/11 than your morning bowl of oatmeal did. Bush has almost singlehandedly transformed the U.S. into one of the most hated countries in the world. He has run up a more than $9 trillion debt and disinterestedly stood by doing nothing as New Orleans was sinking into the Mississippi River. He also stood by completely detached, as a record number of Americans watched their possessions tossed out on the street as their homes were foreclosed in front of them.
The U.S. Dollar is barely worth the paper it's printed on, in both in the US and abroad. Oil prices and our dependency are at record highs, global warming has increased noticeably and according to economists, the country will soon sink into a recession that will affect everybody whether you believe that or not. Oh and as for that little skirmish in Iraq, it turns out our soldiers were not greeted so much as liberators, but as targets with nearly 4,000 of them dead, 30,000 wounded and more than $500 billion looted from the treasury for a war we were assured would pay for itself. Hell, some made it seem we'd actually make a few bucks on the war. Not as much as Haliburton or Blackwater, but some walking around money nonetheless. If you care and you should, because the good people we were liberating from tyranny have helplessly watched more than one million of their countrymen killed thus far, and that number climbs higher every day. This moral country of ours has tortured and killed people we pegged as enemy combatants and the U.S. Constitution has become more of a door mat than the sacred document that this country was founded upon. But look at the Bush accomplishments. He's allowed even the most intellectually challenged citizens among us to feel the pride of being smarter than the president himself.
Don't worry Bill, I haven't forgotten you. Clinton's ego has grown larger than his sense of decency, fair play and ass combined. He's just another man who will do or say anything to win. A man so consumed by his own self indulgence, that he's willing to forgo his own legacy to feed his selfish needs to place himself before those he professes to champion. It is said you learn more about someone in the way they gracefully deal with defeat, than how they triumphantly exult in victory. Both Clintons knew late Saturday afternoon from sophisticated exit polling that the South Carolina primary was going to be won by Barack Obama. Did they exhibit the same grace and gratitude they did celebrating victories in New Hampshire and Nevada? No, they hopped on separate private aircraft to separate venues to speechify and minimize Barack Obama while simultaneously denigrating the significance of the moment. In fact, Bill Clinton, a Yale educated lawyer gave what is known in the legal profession as a non-response response. This is where a lawyer asks a respondent a specific question and in return receives an answer that has nothing to do with the question that was asked. A textbook example of this is the following: A reporter asked Bill Clinton what he thought of Senator Obama's victory in South Carolina. Clinton's non-response response was that "Jesse Jackson won the same primary twice in 1984 and again in 1988". That's a great answer if you're trying to subtly interject racism into the equation, but in no way addresses the specific question asked.
Bill Clinton, the husband of the candidate, then proceeded to give a long winded, self serving 75 minute speech in Missouri before Obama took the stage. He addressed what took place in South Carolina with seven words; "I want to congratulate Senator Obama tonight". That was the full extent of the graceful five second concession acknowledgment. The other 74 minutes and 55 seconds were dedicated to himself and oh yeah, his wife the candidate. He dedicated more time to subtle racism than sincere congratulations. Hillary then gave her standard stump speech after Obama's victory speech. An Obama sandwich in between two stale pieces of Clinton bread. You constantly trash your opponent before the battle was fought, then ignore him after the battle was decided. In Clintonian politics, crass triumphs over class.
If you didn't get the opportunity to watch Caroline, Patrick and Teddy Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama at American University on Monday afternoon, check out you tube. You'll be glad you did. I was genuinely moved by what Caroline Kennedy wrote for the Sunday New York Times. She retold what so many people have told her over the years. "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them," Caroline Kennedy wrote in an op-ed posted Saturday on the Web site, The New York Times "But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans." Caroline was not yet six years old when her father was murdered in Texas. I'll say it again because it bears repeating, "Those Who Forget the Lessons of History Are Doomed To Repeat It." The past clearly demonstrates what 20 years of Bush, Clinton, Bush has wrought. Do you truly want eight more years of the inhalation of failure? Or might you prefer the hopeful dreams that only a breath of fresh air can bring? That's up to you, providing you have the "courage to choose change..."
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