Bush's Presidency: What Went Wrong
Without a doubt, Bush has gone through a cluster-frack of controversies throughout his presidency. From torture, to political firings, to Iraq, and an overall lack of oversight. Of course, it has been this lack of real oversight that has been the core problem. If enough had been there, all the controversies would have more appropriate consequences to them, rather then the apparent promotion that went on.
Some have been calling for Obama to investigate, and possible prosecute, members of the Bush Administration over those controversies. I would hope that this would create rules within the government to stop all this from happening again. But I see a blantant flaw in that: many of those rules existed before Bush came into office; he just ignored them.
It would be nice to say it's the politicians fault; that having a Republican president along with a Republican congress hindered oversight. The problem: the Democrats didn't do much either. The "I" word (impeachment) was never used, because of the political overtones it gained when Clinton was impeached.
So, I've come to one conclusion: the fault lies in all our hands.
After 9/11, we gave our trust to this president to do the right thing. Not just a little, or most, all our trust.
Because of the high aproval Bush had after 9/11, the news media didn't look, didn't question what was happening behind the scenes. And we didn't ask them to either.
There was a reason that freedom of speach was part of the First Amendment. That desent should be part of the political discussion. Without desent, government is far more prone to mistakes; and not minor ones.
The reality is that the problem with the Bush Presidency lies in our society rather than politics. By having a us vs. them mentality (as we most definately had these past four years), solutions are never found. Conversly, solutions aren't found when we are one either. We need many voices in the debate, all without any hate, anger or desperateness to it.
So, as much as I would like to hand my trust over to the Obama Administration to solve many of the grave problems before all of us, I won't hand it all. It is my hope that the news media, and we all, continue to question, continue to ask: Is this the best course for our United States?
Some have been calling for Obama to investigate, and possible prosecute, members of the Bush Administration over those controversies. I would hope that this would create rules within the government to stop all this from happening again. But I see a blantant flaw in that: many of those rules existed before Bush came into office; he just ignored them.
It would be nice to say it's the politicians fault; that having a Republican president along with a Republican congress hindered oversight. The problem: the Democrats didn't do much either. The "I" word (impeachment) was never used, because of the political overtones it gained when Clinton was impeached.
So, I've come to one conclusion: the fault lies in all our hands.
After 9/11, we gave our trust to this president to do the right thing. Not just a little, or most, all our trust.
Because of the high aproval Bush had after 9/11, the news media didn't look, didn't question what was happening behind the scenes. And we didn't ask them to either.
There was a reason that freedom of speach was part of the First Amendment. That desent should be part of the political discussion. Without desent, government is far more prone to mistakes; and not minor ones.
The reality is that the problem with the Bush Presidency lies in our society rather than politics. By having a us vs. them mentality (as we most definately had these past four years), solutions are never found. Conversly, solutions aren't found when we are one either. We need many voices in the debate, all without any hate, anger or desperateness to it.
So, as much as I would like to hand my trust over to the Obama Administration to solve many of the grave problems before all of us, I won't hand it all. It is my hope that the news media, and we all, continue to question, continue to ask: Is this the best course for our United States?
posted by SeanM at 5:48 PM
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