Partly Cloudy - Hi 67 Lo 38 for Qandahar, Afghanistan
Cloudy - Hi 53 Lo 48 for Northern KY, USA
Song of the week: You're Gonna Miss Me, 13th Floor Elevators
Ramble:
"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God."
I have always likes George W. Bush and I am going to miss him when he leaves Washington in January. Older and with more gray hair than when he took the Office of President of the United States, he still holds the same convictions as the man I voted for 8 and 4 years ago.He gave us tax cuts, he prevented federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, Justice Sam Alito, Chief Justice John Roberts..
He has stressed the importance of faith based and community initiatives. He has provided more relief to Africa than any other previous president. I have not always agreed with him, in fact, I have found myself frustrated at his liberal leanings. Yes.. liberal leanings... the compassionate conservative. But again, this is the same man I voted for twice and it is his compassion that has defined him as a man, as our President.I'm going to miss Dubya... I'm going to miss the cowboy. I loved it when he dropped his "g's" you know-- Goin', Doin', etc...
However, the most important thing George W. Bush has done has kept us safe on our soil. We were not prepared for the events of September 11, 2001. At the time, I believe George Bush was on a trajectory to really follow his compassionate conservative values and he would have spent even more money (our tax dollars) developing more welfare systems. However, the events of that awful day changed everything. He knew what he had to do. He became our protector. He kept us safe and has done so every single solitary day since. As our President he has been given details that none of us need to know or could handle-- close calls and situations defused before anyone is hurt. Those days after 9/11, we all watched a man age by 10 years-- instantly.
No longer did we live in a safe world and like any father, George Bush wanted to take the pain away and keep us safe--- He did not want to see us hurting--- he told us to go back to our lives, spend money, and get on with it. (It is only now, that he is second guessed by the President Elect). It was the best thing for us. Get back to normal... get over our fears of boarding a plane, spend money, get the economy going, however stay vigilant.. pay attention.I Can Hear You MP3
"At times, Bush has turned unusually personal, bordering on melancholy. "I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process," Bush told his sister, Doro Bush Koch, in a recent interview for StoryCorps, a national oral history project. "I came to Washington with a set of values, and I'm leaving with the same set of values, and I darn sure wasn't going to sacrifice those values; that I was a president that had to make tough choices and was willing to make them." More from US News and World Report
He has been our President and he has been ridiculed and mocked like no other (do a Google search for images and see what you find). He has put his country first, he follows his faith and convictions and he wants what is best for this nation. He is a man-- and I can't imagine what that kind of ridicule does to a person. Quite often and much to my dismay, he has turned the other cheek on those that have thrown him under the bus-- even those in his own party. He is a better person than me.
In just a few short weeks, President Bush will hand the keys of the White House to President Elect Obama. As we have done since the beginning of this Great Nation, there will be a PEACEFUL transition from the current president to the next. I have no doubt, President Bush has an expectation of his staff to be helpful and cooperative with the incoming team. I have no doubt the White House will be left orderly and in tact with nothing missing and nothing destroyed, unlike how the Bush's found the White House when they arrived in January 2001.
For me, there is one image of President Bush that is burned in my memory. The burden he has carried shows in every crease in his face. I am so grateful that it was George W. Bush that was our President on that horrific day. He made the right decisions, he made the right choices. He was in Lebanon, Ohio-- just a skip and a jump up the road from here... the year was 2004.
In a moment largely unnoticed by the throngs of people in Lebanon waiting for autographs from the president of the United States, George W. Bush stopped to hold a teenager's head close to his heart.
Lynn Faulkner, his daughter, Ashley, and their neighbor, Linda Prince, eagerly waited to shake the president's hand Tuesday at the Golden Lamb Inn. He worked the line at a steady campaign pace, smiling, nodding and signing autographs until Prince spoke:
"This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11."
Bush stopped and turned back.
"He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and a man," Faulkner said. "He looked right at her and said, 'How are you doing?' He reached out with his hand and pulled her into his chest."
Faulkner snapped one frame with his camera.
"I could hear her say, 'I'm OK,' " he said. "That's more emotion than she has shown in 2 1/2 years. Then he said, 'I can see you have a father who loves you very much.' "
"And I said, 'I do, Mr. President, but I miss her mother every day.' It was a special moment."
Special for Lynn Faulkner because the Golden Lamb was the place he and his wife, Wendy Faulkner, celebrated their anniversary every year until she died in the south tower of the World Trade Center, where she had traveled for business.
The rest can be read at The Cincinnati Enquirer
President Bush, I am going to miss you.
other resources:
Whitehouse.gov
DC Pages
