The Obligatory Epic Farewell To President Bush

On the subject of George W. Bush's presidency, there have already been many postmortems written. Many of these are scathing, insult-filled diatribes for which the writers had been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to compose... for the last four-to-eight years.

Not this one.

While I will be the first to admit that I have not been a 'fan' of former-President Bush #43 (more: here, here & here), I am not going to use this piece as a means of criticism. Well, not all of it anyway... Rather, in a somewhat odd turn of events, I simply want to thank Mr. Bush.

Believe it or not, I voted for George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. Way back then (which seems like an eternity ago), Yours Truly was not the pajama-clad-politico that he is now. He wasn't any kind of politico.  In the fall of that year, I was a fresh-out-of-college-graduate who was simply concerned with clearing the hops and barley from my brain. I had recently acquired a reasonabe entry-level job, and my collective knowledge of politics could be summed up in Saturday Night Live sketches. Sad, I know. But that is why I voted for Bush: I thought that Al Gore was boring and obsessed with 'lock boxes' and that George W. Bush was a more 'down-to-earth' guy.  Someone with whom I would like to have a beer, as it were.

I say all of this not because I'm trying to cop-out of my vote that year, but rather to emphasize the importance of being knowledgeable. I have since come to the realization that it is incumbent upon us as Americans to know about subject matter as important as voting in a presidential election (or any election for that matter).

But I'm getting off topic...

I first started to pay attention to national politics in 2003. Surprisingly, not because of the war in Iraq, though that would later come to dramatically shape my views. At the time, like many other Americans, I bought the story about Saddam and WMDs and links to terrorism hook, line and sinker.  Initially my foray into politics was attributable to -- of all things -- Howard Stern. At the time, I had to do a lot of traveling for my job. Long hours. In a car. At first music was my big thing -- driving from place to place with the windows down and the music up -- but like many things that eventually got old (and cold as the winter months set in). Since much of my travels were in New Jersey, I started listening to WYSP (out of Philadelphia) and KROCK (out of NYC). Each morning I would get up and listen to Howard and his crew on my way to whatever job I had that day.

In 2003, Michael Powell (son of General Colin Powell) was the head of the Federal Ccommunications Comission. At that time, the Stern show had been getting lots of fines and complaints via the FCC. This is where my political views began to take shape. I felt that government should have little to no impact on what was broadcast over the airwaves. If a listener didn't like what was on, they were free to change the channel/station. The fact that the FCC and other groups were going out of their minds over some stupidity was beyond me... not to mention all of the fines that were imposed upon broadcasters as a result. Thusly, my views of the Bush administration began to take shape.  As the war in Iraq progressed (we all know how bad it got), and WMDs had yet to be found, my views continued to take shape.  Abu Gharaib... my views continued to take shape.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  Needless to say, I developed a very negative view of our nation's Chief Executive -- and even moreso of his underlings (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, et al).

Despite what I feel have been a trying eight years under his administration, I truly believe that George W. Bush made the decisions that he made for one reason: he thought what he was doing was best for our country.  You can agree with that -- or disagree with that, as I'm sure many of you will voice in the comments.  But in my heart of hearts, I do not believe that the former president is a 'bad person'.  He is just a person, like you or me, who (I feel) made some particularly cantankerous decisions -- for which my children and grandchildren will pay the consequences.

Thank you for your service Mr. President.  I appreciate the fact that the job is tough and you did the best that you were able.  I may not have liked 90% of what you did (or perhaps 99%), but there is one very important thing for which I must thank you: you sparked an interest in politics inside of me that I never would have thought existed.  This blog, in all of it's splendor (nooch), would not and could not exist if it weren't for your decisions and policies.  For igniting a fire underneath my posterior Mr. President, I thank you.