{"id":1000,"date":"2009-08-31T09:11:45","date_gmt":"2009-08-31T16:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2009-08-30T09:49:04","modified_gmt":"2009-08-30T16:49:04","slug":"how-we-got-here-some-thoughts-on-clinton-bush-and-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/31\/how-we-got-here-some-thoughts-on-clinton-bush-and-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"How We Got Here – Some Thoughts on Clinton, Bush and Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

We now have an occupant in the White House who, by rational measure was woefully lacking in the experience necessary to hold the office of the Presidency.\u00a0 Barak Obama was elected, not on his record, but on a promise, the promise of hope and change.\u00a0 For many this meant people had hope<\/em> that Obama would be a change<\/em> from George Bush.\u00a0 By the end of 2008, Bush had become so vilified that just about any Democrat could have been elected.\u00a0 We as a nation are now beginning to understand the hope and change many of us desired was not the same hope and change Obama had in mind.<\/p>\n

How did we get here?\u00a0 How did the desire for hope and change so completely trump experience, expertise and knowledge?<\/p>\n

I think one of the primary roots of our current state of Presidential affairs lies with Bill Clinton.\u00a0 Now lest anyone begin to roll their heads and bemoan another “blame Clinton” post, let me assure the reader I do not blame Clinton so much as I mark his presidency as a sort of genesis from which has developed our present situation.<\/p>\n

Clinton’s immoral sexual activities before and during his tenure as president, including the Monica Lewinski affair, were frankly considered despicable by many. They do not need to be reiterated.\u00a0 But here is the salient point: As a result of his actions<\/em>, including continually seeking to satisfying his apparently insatiable libido as well as lying under oath, he came to be despised by many.\u00a0 Put another way, in my opinion, Clinton earned the disrespect he got. A look back at the Clinton years easily reveals how it was his actions that led many to form less-than-glowing opinions of the man.<\/p>\n

Then came the election of George Bush in 2000. To me there was an almost instant and palpable dislike from the political left for this president.\u00a0 George Bush was despised his first day in office, before he had time to take any<\/em> actions.\u00a0 It was almost as if his political foes said, “Oh, so you want to despise the president, huh? Well, we’ll show you how to despise a president.”\u00a0 Having predetermined that Bush was despicable, every action taken by him was looked at through a lens of contempt.\u00a0 Bush was stupid, Bush was an idiot, Bush destroyed our country, Bush lied and people died, etc.\u00a0 And of course the mainstream media was all too willing to help keep up the constant drumbeat of “Bush-bashing”.\u00a0 However, long before Bush did anything remotely deserving of contempt he was despised simply on a “tit for tat” basis vis a vis<\/em> Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

Not that George Bush was the first Republican president subjected to scorn without cause.\u00a0 Gerald Ford had his detractors’ frequent comments about his supposed “clumsiness”, his exemplary college athletics record not withstanding.\u00a0 Vice President Dan Quayle was often portrayed as a man of low intelligence, proof of which came to many in the spelling of the word “potato” (click here<\/a> if you don’t know what I am talking about).\u00a0 Ronald Reagan was old and senile, etc.<\/p>\n

But somehow the rhetoric took a far nastier turn with GWB.\u00a0 He was a complete moron who has brought our country to the brink of ruin, according to many.\u00a0 (As an aside I find it fascinating that a man who holds degrees from both Yale and Harvard, was a pilot in the Air National Guard, led several successful business enterprises, was elected 4 times as Texas governor, and served 2 terms as President of the United States, could be considered an imbecile…but I digress).\u00a0 Now and for the foreseeable future Bush is the root of all evil to many.\u00a0 One doesn’t have to explain anything – simply saying, “well, at least we don’t have that idiot, Bush, in there any more”, is enough for many.\u00a0 But is it enough for the future of this (once) great nation?<\/p>\n

So, we now have Barack Obama; he’s articulate, he has great stage presence, he is good looking, he inspires, he gives us hope, he will bring change.\u00a0 He’s not like that idiot, Bush, etc., etc., etc.\u00a0 Books have been published chronicling the gaffs of President Bush.\u00a0 There will never be such a book about Barak Obama, no matter what he says or does. We allowed the political foes of Bush to shape public perception of him.\u00a0 We now allow the friends of Obama to do the same for him (methinks they are but one in the same).<\/p>\n

We have elected a man who is not adequate to the task, but who has risen on a wave of contempt for his predecessor and a rhetorical gift that seems to have the power to sway.\u00a0 But sooner than later he and all his supporters will have to forsake the blaming of George W. Bush for all ills past, present,\u00a0 and future. This president will stand and be judged on his own record.\u00a0 I hope it won’t be too late when it happens.<\/p>\n

Maybe we should find some other criteria upon which to elect our next President of the United States.\u00a0 Perhaps next time we should investigate the record, the principles, the associates, the history, the core beliefs, and the policy intentions of our candidates.\u00a0 Perhaps hope and change weren’t such a substantive platform after all.<\/p>\n

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