The Departure of George W. Bush Lends Little to Celebrate

It would be an understatement to say that after President George W. Bush was reelected in 2004, I was disappointed.  In fact, I was truly disgusted.  I could not believe that just over half of the American people wanted another term filled with fear, war, and the erosion of our civil liberties.  And so, instead of having that debate,  mainstream media did a fine job of spinning and attributing Bush’s re-election to the issue of cultural and social morality; and let us not forget that he is the man (the recovering alcoholic) that everyone wanted to share a beer with at their backyard barbecue.  A martini with Kerry or a Bud Light with Bush?  You decide.

It is fair to say that during the Presidential bid of 2004, I was still buying into the two-party system of liberal democrats and conservative republicans.  What other viable choice was there?  I was, as so many Americans still are, desperate to believe that one of these characters was a person that actually cared about our country and its people.  I think most people start out this way, believing in the system, the process as it were.  And why shouldn’t we?  Most of us attended  public government run schools for 13 years, being told that the democratic process in this country was good, and that we were the good guys.  I suppose it is quite comforting to grow up feeling that we are the heroes, the richest, the strongest, the best of the best.  And, I suppose this is exactly why much of our population continues to believe that we are still a free and just nation, or that voting for one man or the other means…something.

But, in November 2004, things changed for me.  I had become so over-exhausted by the mainstream media after following the election for a year or more, that I turned off the television for at least six months as a way of wiping the slate clean.  Shortly thereafter, I became a noob to the internet.  Of course, I’m still considered a noob by most standards; though this matters little in the scheme of things. (Reading does not require one to know how to use umpteem different applications.)  However, having internet access was paramount to shifting my political understanding and leanings.  Being able to read from nearly any newspaper or online publication in the world was enough to make anyone go into information overload.  But the fog of NBC and the like had been lifted.  Slowly, I went from democrat to independent and ultimately to where I am today, which is skeptical of nearly anything.  And though I’ve lost the comforts that denial once provided, there is nothing like liberation from a prison-like state of mind.

The last four years have only stood to make a cynic more cynical.

So now, as we try to put the corruption and financial panic of 2008 behind us and brace for the abyss that will soon characterize 2009, we’re left with nothing more than the ritual of one President exiting stage right and his successor entering stage left.   Yes, ladies and gentleman, Bush is finally at the wee tail end of his Presidency.  Though I’m not feeling the jubilation that I felt so certain about four years previous.  When the differences between Bush and Obama come down to the pronunciation of words, I’m not getting what there is to celebrate in Bush’s departure.  A strong and savvy intellect mean very little when one is batting for the same team, no?

Needless to say, ‘change’ is not coming to Washington any time soon. There will be more of the same.  McCain or Obama, it never really made a difference.  The problem is that as we turn the page, we are not headed towards a more perfect union.  We are headed into a very dark time, of course that is only after the  Obama frenzy starts to dissipate.  If you weren’t pleased with the bailouts of 2008, you will most certainly be dissapointed by the amount of money Obama is about to print and spend in every attempt to keep this ship from sinking.  Sadly, a large scale Titanic is more likely to ensue.

Suffice it to say that this end of one and beginning of another is not nearly the splendidly joyous time I once believed it would be.

Sources: ¹ http://www.reason.com/news/show/130832.html, ²http://abcnews.go.com/business/economy/Story?id=6332892&page=1, ³http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner~y2009m1d13-Obamas-new-New-Deal-stimulus-package-could-prolong-economic-crisis