It breaks my heart to see how people are treating Bush as he is out of office and graciously handing the shoes over for Obama to step in.
I am trying to remain open minded, hopeful, and supportive of Obama, regardless of my views prior to election. The decision has been made, and we must have the integrity and faith that it will work out for the best. He is the best man for the job, or he wouldn’t have gotten the job.
I realize that there are strong feelings toward how Bush ran the country. He’s human, not perfection. Far from it. But so is Obama, and having such high expectations of one man is undoubtedly setting yourself, him, and the country, up for failure.
Personally, I loved Bush. Those of you that know me know my standings. I couldn’t have picked, and refuse to think of, a better man to take us through 9-11. He made some mistakes. A lot of mistakes even. But where is he is trying to make a smooth and graceful exit, people are mocking him, his ability to run the country, and dwelling on the past. Ridiculing him does not make you a better person. Judge not lest you be judged. We need to have the same respect, dignity, and prayer, for the man leaving, as the one taking his place. They have the integrity to laugh together, powerfully shake hands, and move together through the transition, while the country tears them apart.
We all need to look forward to this change with open minds and open hearts, ready for a new direction, but realize that we wouldn’t be going this direction without the path marked before it.
God Bless the Bush family, and the Obama family.
-Nomz
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
God Bless the President{s}
Posted by Daily Offensive (baha!) at 1/20/2009
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18 comments:
"Graciously handing the shoes over for Obama to step in"? His tenure as Commander in Chief is up - there's nothing gracious about it, it's either hand over the reigns to Obama or commit treason, try to retain power and possibly start a civil war. No, his time is up, and he's doing the proper thing.
Perhaps the people who aren't quite as big fans of Bush as you take issue with some of the decisions of the past 8 years: diverting the resources of the military of this country to away from legitimate targets in Afghanistan (Al Qaeda, the people who ACTUALLY had a hand in 9/11), and attacking a country which had nothing to do with it, which wasn't attacking us, which didn't have any weapons of mass distruction. Perhaps these people are slightly annoyed that in 7 years Bush managed to take us from being a nation respected and envied by nearly every other country on the planet, to being a warmongering nation of religious zealots that is scorned and derided. Perhaps it is the invasions of our personal freedoms and privacy - warrantless wiretaps on the calls of US Citizens, the FBI using National Security Letters to prevent people from even talking about subpoena's they received, the inability to board a plain without stripping off your shoes, belt, watch, and dignity. Perhaps it is the abuse, torture, and complete denigration of not only prisoners of war, but any poor soul who happened to get in the way of the war machine the Bush administration created, mismanaged, and set loose upon another sovereign nation.
So yes, let us remember the Bush administration, the same way we remember the abuses of an administration also accused of spying, an administration taken down by Watergate; the same way we remember the concentration camps setup in World War Two; the same way we remember the Slavery, and later civil persecution, of an entire race of people; let us remember, so we are not forced to repeat these mistakes again.
You're right, he didnt have a choice but to leave. But he had a choice in the way of handling how he left. I didnt say he graciously left, I said he left graciously. Meaning, he handled the door provided, as well as he could.
I also stated that he made several mistakes. But to list them like you did, as if to compare his mistakes to the extremes of slavery and concentration camps, is to backstabing and moronic. You're awfully judgmental friend, of a man that was chosen not only once, but twice, to run this country, and do the best he could...whether you agree with his efforts or not.
You just did exactly opposite of what this post was asking. Let the door close behind Bush, and let's move on. Stop throwing stones and casting judgments on the past.
-Nomz
Handled the door provided? Honest to God, first time I've ever heard that phrase before... maybe it's more common in scary-redneck-ville or wherever you're from.
I believe the illegal imprisonment of people (Gitmo) makes a keen comparison to, say, the illegal imprisonment of people (concentration camps), as does spying on Americans (Nixon) with spying on Americans (FISA/warrantless wiretaps). Certainly nothing Bush did was as bad as Slavery... though perhaps the Iraqi people would disagree with that.
And my point was not simply to point out the many, many mistakes that were made, the tragedies that ensued, and the tarnish left in their wake, but to point out that these things are worth talking about, worth remembering, so they never happen again. Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense, and ignorance of our history can be no defense for the crimes of a government or its people.
One of the beauty's of politics is the opportunity to agree to disagree.
I agree that Bush made mistakes. But I believe he did the best for this country that he could. I wont sit here and think that he had any wrong intentions.
Is it wise to remember where we've been in our walk forward? Obviously. Do we need to be insulting to the past in order to remember? Absolutely not.
-Nomz
Certainly intentions must be taken into consideration - a man defending his family against an intruder and taking a bat to someone's head cannot be judged equally with a bookie's enforcer who does the same thing. However, even the best of intentions cannot change the end result of those actions. A man, a leader of his country, must be held accountable for the end result of the choices he makes and the acts he sets into motion. At no time is this more true than when a country makes war upon another, as this affects both nations, and one of them had no hand in the leader coming to power. The intentions of the leader going to war must be weighed against the deaths in that war - be it 50k dead Iraqis, 60k dead US servicemen, or 6 million dead Europeans.
Let's just remember- "He who is without sin may cast the first stone." No one is perfect- no one. Frankly, it sounds like you have a bit of a forgiveness problem here and I do recommend that you let the past be the past and keep your eyes on the "change" that is about to happen.
No change can ever happen without conflict. That being said, Bush's decisions while in office created a platform for the "change" that Obama intends to make. All things will work together for the good!
-Sazaran
By that logic I guess that means that cops and the justice system need to stop arresting and prosecuting criminals since they aren't without sin, either.
Elected officials are accountable to the public. It is the public's responsibility to hold them accountable. We fail in our responsibility when we don't enforce that accountability -- the same way cops fail in theirs when they don't fulfill their responsibility.
"To whom much has been given, much is expected." Some wise Dude said that a couple thousand years ago. I think He meant it.
Oh give me a break- I didn't mean that CRIMINALS should not be held accountable. I meant that you need to get off of your high horse and stop thinking that Bush needs to be stoned because of his decisions. Of course he has been held accountable for what he did- he already has by consistent gossip and relentless persecution of the media, the democrats and any other person out there who thinks they know better than he did/does. Remember, you cannot possibly know what he had to go through or why he made the decisions he made unless you actually experienced what he had to experience. The same will go for Obama.
I refuse to believe that ONE man is responsible for what they call the "collapse of our economy" and other nonsense people need to blame him for- and I also refuse to believe that ONE man can "fix" everything.
-Sazaran
Wow. I didn't realize only your horse could be the tallest one here. And oh my goodness, I guess I should have known better than to raise uncomfortable topics or provide dissenting opinions. Golly, I thought you named it dailyoffensive for a reason. Guess not.
It's like my still sharp-as-a-knife grandma says, "Never argue with idiots or the insane. They'll drag you down to their level then beat you with experience." Not sure which you two are, but I think now's a good time to take grandma's advice.
Why it that when a person who supports Bush, stands up for him (and ultimately, for what they believe) they are put into the same class as the ignorant and/or bigots?
It’s typical Democrat behavior to succumb to insults when they can’t get a person to completely agree with what they think.
Only a grandma who knew she was wrong but wouldn't admit it would say something like that.
The original post made was not intended to be one-sided or accusatory. I/We cannot control the posts made by others as a reaction or result, and as we welcome your opinion, we also are proud to stand in our own truths and stick to our guns. We appreciate your opinion, but if you dont like ours we arent asking you to stay.
Speaking for me and me alone, I have not been offended by anything posted as a response to something i've written...this is an open blog, and we write it with the full expectation of getting opinions from all ends of the spectrum.
We do write for what we believe, and we will argue to defend that.
Regardless of our opinions, there is no need to stoop to name calling. We're neither idiots nor insane...we are just different from you. And, once again, if you dont like it, you're more than welcome to clear out.
-Nomz
Did I type something somewhere I wasn't aware of? I never said Bush needed to be stoned. And I never said I put you in the same class as bigots. And I didn't insult you first by accusing you of being on "a high horse".
Why it that when a person {disagrees with you after being asked for their thoughts as per the general invitation of your blog} (and ultimately, for what they believe) they are {told they’re on a high horse and reminded they can leave}?
It’s typical {Republican} behavior to succumb to insults when they can’t get a person to completely agree with what they think.
Only {someone} who knew she was wrong but wouldn't admit it would say something like that.
Im going to play referee one more time…it seems there is a misunderstanding here and we’ve gone away from the original point of this post. Granted, it’s been interesting, but also a bit pointless.
The insult, wasn’t the high horse comment (we can all stand to be bucked off from a-top once in a while), the insult was when you said you considered us either insane or idiotic. We’re not giving you permission to leave because you disagree, we enjoy healthy discussions! We’re reminding you that if you’re too uncomfortable or offended by the way things happen, you don’t have to stay.
Ya both need to stop stereotyping. “Typical republicans” and “typical democrats”? You are assisting people in losing their individuality by making assumptions and accusations.
Lordy. Apparently, we’re all a bit stubborn and opinionated, but I don’t think any of the three of us meant to come out guns-a-blazing. I’ll be the first to apologize. If you felt unwelcome, attacked, or shut down because of your opinion, I am sincerely sorry-it was not intentional. We hope you continue to participate…we welcome your opinion-stubborn or otherwise. ;)
-Nomz
High Horse: n. Informal. An attitude of stubborn arrogance or contempt.
Sorry darlin', just a-cuz you don't want it to be an insult don't mean it ain't. In 'Merican language it is.
"Regardless of our opinions, there is no need to stoop to name calling. We're neither idiots nor insane...we are just different from you. And, once again, if you dont like it, you're more than welcome to clear out."
You're right...you're totally a bigger person on a shorter horse for the way you're acting.
-Nomz
I too thought we had the best man after the 9-11 attacks. I thought we would go to every inch of the earth to track this mass murderer down. However soon after 9-11 I realized this was not the case. For reasons only George Bush knows he decided to focus America's energy on a country that had nothing to do with 9-11.
We have not accomplished anything except over throwing a ruthless dictator. This did not make the middle east any safer now than before 9-11. We wasted america's resources, military and civilian, on a war that has bought the country into a recession.
While I was confident in Bush just after 9-11 his decisions, or lack of good judgement has hurt America and Americams for many years to come.
If it seems Obama has such high expectations is because this country is despair it has ever been since the great depression. If he fails is becAuse the mountain was too tall to climb, not because he didnt try to climb the mountain.
Amen, brother. It doesn't take much to break something. Takes a helluva lot more to fix it once the damage is done, though.
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