Good Riddance

In President Bush's farewell speech, he reflected on his accomplishments, and asked us to at least "agree that he was willing to make the tough decisions"

Well I'm sorry Mr. Bush, I do not agree. In order for a decision to be difficult, it takes empathy. It takes the courage to admit you are unsure. Great leaders agonize over the choices they must make. They are thinkers who understand that even their deepest convictions are subject to question.

You have shown that you believe that your conviction to your beliefs are correct to the exclusion of all others, and not subject to question or uncertainty. This is a hallmark of the despot.

I remember your debate campaign rhetoric where you proudly touted you and your state's "accomplishments" in meting out the death penalty often and swiftly. When asked, you might say that each of these was a tough decision, but your giddy smirk exposes that as a lie. You felt it was right, so for you it was not a tough decision.

You claim that you lowered taxes for every taxpayer, but where did you get the money to do that? It wasn't by decreasing spending like a real Republican should; you have increased spending more than any President before you.

You say you have increased standards in public schools, created a new medicare drug benefit, created faith-based programs, doubled funding for veterans. Did you take the money to do those things out of you our pocket? If you didn't fund it with taxes, where did you get the money? I'll tell you where. You took it out of the pockets of our children. The money was just added to the national debt, so future taxpayers could pay for it. This amounts to a twisted form of socialism, where our children and our children's children will be given the bill for the money you have given primarily to the wealthy in the present day. You may never understand why this was wrong, but be assured, history will. I suppose when you have certainty that Armageddon is near, the finances of your great grandchildren are unimportant.

You claim that Afghanistan is now a young democracy, and that Iraq has been transformed from a dictatorship to a democratic friend of the united states, and go on to say that killing the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong everytime, everywhere. But didn't your unjust war kill innocent people to advance your doctrine of regime change to archive a democratic Iraq? Again, your certainty that this was the right thing to do is why, for you, this decision was an easy one, and why you will be chastised by history. I remember the conversations before the war where it was said by many that time would show if an invasion of Iraq was a good idea. Well time has told us that our involvement has only served to reduce our security, reduce our stature, and cause more instability in the world. You have not merly failed to improve the world, your actions have directly reduced peace in the world, in increased death and suffering.