As I sat and watched the inauguration in the comfort of my own home and the power of my DVR remote, many thoughts occurred to me. I watched as they showed George W. Bush a couple times and wondered what he thought of the speech. The statements in italics below struck me as indirect digs at Bush's inability to lead and his leaving this country in a state of disrepair not seen since the original depression.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
Was Bush wondering how it all could have gone wrong? Was he feeling bad about creating such a mess? He must have felt something because his speech as he landed in Texas a few hours later could have been taken as a bit defensive. You can read it here. I would probably feel terrible if the legacy I left after running a great country like the United States of America for 8 years was the highest unemployment since the troops came home from WWII, businesses closing their doors so fast we cannot keep up with the news, people losing their homes at a record pace, and frankly the list goes on and on and on. Some interesting graphs on the younger Bush years is here
Perhaps the record number of attendees illustrates the hope and desperation of the American people? See the numbers below:
Attendance numbers
PAST ATTENDANCE
1965: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1.2 m
1973: Richard Nixon, 300,000
1977: Jimmy Carter, 350,000
1981: Ronald Reagan, 500,000
1989: George H.W. Bush, 300,000
1993: Bill Clinton, 800,000
2001: George W. Bush: 500,000
2009: Barach Obama: 1.8 - 2.0 million
I wonder what he's thinking and I wonder if he cares or if he thinks at all....
3 comments:
Dawn
You were a little hard on President Bush. I wouldn't set myself up for any big disappointments Obama is not the savior. He will be an also ran at best! I can relate to all the "can't we all get along" rhetoric of the people who elected Obama, but reality sets in and I can't hold any hope for one so powerful being so dumb!
1.) Obama is wrong about "Global Warming" it's a hoax!
2.) He is wrong to go soft on the war on terrorists, and we will pay big time for that, any one left that tries to pin that one on Bush; will be in your own words dealt with severely!
3.) There were so many at the inauguration, because most were welfare recipients, who have never had a job anyway.
4.) All the "green energy" technologies in the world recieving more money than is practical won't make us "energy independent", only one thing will and here I go again, crushing, trashing and crapping all over another liberal non-fact! Drilling will make us energy independent! Yes, Dawn we can drill our way out of this mess, someone just has to let us!
Wow, Lee. And even though you didn't sign this diatribe I know it was you.... I don't believe Obama is going to be the savior of this country of this economy but I do believe that he is better than either of the Bush's. Global warming is not a hoax. People that believe it is a hoax have their head stuck so deep in the sand they are eating Chinese shit from the land of Denial. Dumping 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan is not "soft on terror" it is focusing on terror where it should have been focused on before instead of walking into Iraq, making Cheney and other Bush buddies rich and then spending billions of dollars on Iraqie infrastructure that should have been spent in the USA. As for your 3) -- are you kidding me? Welfare recipients??!! They couldn't have afforded to go to Washington DC because hotel rooms were astronomical and so were the flights. LOL you crack me up. And for the final blow 4) Working on green energy will help create jobs for Americans working on new, exciting and beneficial technologies. We already know that the price of a barrel of oil is completely arbitrary.
Bravo Dawn! It's the kind of thinking illustrated by Lee that has created the last 8 years of fear, hate and continual destruction of this planet. For all the apathy that Americans tend to dwell in, it was heart warming to see the American people speak at the polls!
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