The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrac

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrac
152
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 5:20pm

The time when I have been ashamed of modern America...

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.

According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.

The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.

It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.

Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.

Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman's low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.

Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years— and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty—a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

By JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO

Source:

Wednesday, November 5, 2008
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | OPINION
The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
What must our enemies be thinking?

Mr. Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-03-2008
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 8:04pm
Isn't that what was said about Clinton before Bush was elected? Conservatives had high hopes for him also?
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 9:25pm
No, I don't believe they did.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 11:41pm
I think a lot of Americans feel exactly the same way about Barry.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 11:43pm
ITA...who cares about your associations...unless we care about your associations. (where's my eye roll icon when I need it?)
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 11:45pm
From your mouth to God's ear.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 11:52pm

>>> Bush has destroyed this country and people are telling us to feel badly for him.

All by his little self? LOL!

>>> We are in an economic free fall,

Thanks to the Democrats.

>>> Osama Bil Ladin is still out there

Hiding in Pakistan...but don't worry, Obama will invade our ally and get him.

>>> and the Iraqi are enjoying a surplus.

Hmmm...I thought liberals flip-flopped between "Iraq was a war for oil"...in which case it's strange that we aren't getting any...or griping that the Iraqis are making money from their oil and we aren't getting any...but saying that we shouldn't be taking THEIR oil. Quite the hypocritical conundrum.

>>> Because of him we stooped to torture.

If you think "enhanced interrogation" started with Bush you really do need an education. Start with "rendition"...and see which administration started that policy.

>>> Is is disgraced because he is a disgrace.

Bush is a man of honor and integrity, who has kept the US safe and prosperous for 7 years through very troubling times.

>>> The only question in my mind is whether Obama pardons him.

Obama should start with his close "neighborhood" friends first.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 11:53pm
The difference will be that Obama will be guilty.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-23-2002
Thu, 11-06-2008 - 11:58pm

The difference will be that Obama will be guilty.



Negativity will not get you anywhere. Hope you realize that soon. :)



LDR Board
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Fri, 11-07-2008 - 12:08am
Are you kidding me???? It is more like the MISTREATMENT of the AMERICAN PEOPLE

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 11-07-2008 - 1:05am

I'd like to interject here.


I voted for Bush in 2000 in the election (not the primary). I thought he was going to be the compassionate conservative he promised he was. I had hope that he wouldn't pander to the Christian right, and would continue to work to reduce our national debt.


4 years later, I realized I had not voted for a man who would try to balance the budget. I had voted for a man who got us embroiled in war in which we had no national interest. And we had a President who encouraged the Christian right to fight to erode women's reproductive rights. So I voted for Kerry, because I felt we needed to get another person in there to try to resolve the mess. Instead, we ended up with 4 more years of the same old mess.


I didn't have it in for Bush. I actually worked some with the GHWB Presidential campaign for a short while (not on the campaign, but with the campaign for coordination with my boss, a member of Congress at that time). I voted for the son in part because I saw he was surrounded by many of his father's advisors.


Please, stop throwing around accusations. Shoot, I even know an economist at the Cato Institute who says that economically, Clinton was a better President than GWB. And we know how fiscally conservative they are over there. We need fiscal responsibility right now, not more of the same pandering.


It was time for a change. I'm sorry you think that change is for the worst. I'm sorry to hear you'll be pretty much against everything Obama does in the next 4 years, even if he manages to help things get better (you'll probably try to give all the credit to Bush if it does, but blame Obama if it goes badly).

The 3 Day

Sandy

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