End of the Road
It’s 10:22pm. I just happened to glance at the clock, and the thought struck me. Tonight is the last night of George Bush’s presidency. It’s over. The good and the bad, the mistakes and the triumphs. The heartbreak of 9/11 and the thrill of taking out Saddam. Over. The moments have passed. In a few short hours a new day will dawn and a new president will take the seat of ultimate world power.
We’ve all known this day was coming. We’ve known it since his second election in 2004. But now night has fallen for the very last time on the Bush Era. It finally hit me, just now as I looked at the clock. Like counting down a new year, or a death row inmate’s last breath. Tomorrow morning he will walk away from the White House and he won’t be back. Eight years, and now he’s going.
It’s bittersweet. I began his reign not liking him - being mostly indifferent and maybe a little disrespectful. Then that day came, and I looked to him for strength. By the end of the Bush presidency I was as tired as everyone else, him included. In trying to please everyone he had pleased no one. Government got too big and intrusive, which upset the base. Yet he stood by his ideals on life and his strong arm tactics against our foes, which upset the other side. We were all so very unhappy and ready for that change everyone’s been talking about.
Now that change is here. The time has come, and tomorrow he will walk off into the sunset as so many before him have done. I feel like I’m losing an old friend.
Good luck to you on your travels, Sir. Be well.
Sorry RG..I can’t get nostalgic. I see Bush as a “failed conservative” not an Icon…we’ll leave that to tougher resolves….like Maggie T.
Comment by WL Mackenzie Redux — January 19, 2009 @ 11:02 pm
I also will miss G.W. Bush. He drove me NUTS domestically but Foreign policy wise he took the rod and shoved it right up the asses of those people who needed the cattle prod. He is soooo undervalued in this regard. There is not a soul who was alive on Sept 12, 2001 who would have said 7 yrs later we would have not had another attack on our soil.
That is directly due to the policy’s he put in place with those dedicated individuals to carry it out and for that he has my eternal gratitude!
Comment by T. LaDuke — January 19, 2009 @ 11:58 pm
I think he will be much missed. He has been defined by ‘bad press’ and a mistrust and hate from the very beginning of his first term. It became fasionable to diss him and that grew into a whole industry of blameing Bush for everything. Perhaps one of the worst tragadies to come from 9-11 was that we didn’t get to experiance that “compassionate conservatism” that he so wanted to bring to us. He started with such promise, and we had so much to gain. Terrorism took that away. Not so much for his sake, but for ours is that loss so great. Bush is but a man.
I’ll miss him.
Comment by Big Al — January 20, 2009 @ 7:26 am
He failed to use veto power against the anti-Israel resolution in the UN which (obviously, what else does the UN exist for?) condemned Israel. He handed Obama a foreign policy on a silver platter that will be very dangerous and detrimental to Israel’s right to self-defense.
Comment by SR — January 20, 2009 @ 9:29 am
[...] FAREWELL Mr. President; End of the Road …. (dailybayonet.blog, [...]
Pingback by Steynian 312 « Free Canuckistan! — January 20, 2009 @ 10:04 am
As an African, and South Sudanese, I will miss President G.W. Bush. He has been a best friend to South Sudan and Africa eventhough the media did not credited him with his great work in Africa.
May God Bless him and his family.
Comment by L. Samy — January 20, 2009 @ 10:25 am
With GW leaving I have mixed feelings. His fiscal polices and expansion of government put him left of Bill Clinton. I’ll leave it at that.
On the other hand, with the war on terror, he was a true leader. He ran the war as he thought best. He did not react to every poll and when things got messy he stuck to his guns (contrast with Clinton who could get out of Somalia fast enough after a few causalities). A true leader makes the hard decisions in the face to tough opposition, whether it comes from the enemy or your own congress.
BO scares me. His conciliatory approach may sound good to the great unwashed here in North America but the world is hard and cruel and is run by terrible people who eat do-good guys like BO all the time. A time will come when we look back and wish we had GW Bush back in the White House.
Comment by RM — January 20, 2009 @ 10:28 am
And the lesson here, ladies and gents, is:
…..if you are a conservative and you happen to be elected to an office where you can promote connservative principles and enact conservative laws
…..and you fail to act in an aggressive and forthright manner to implement your conservative agenda, because you have a soft heart and you want to be liked by everyone,
several things will happen:
….the left will keep hating you no matter what because you do not share their wretched whacko pathology
….the right will start hating you because you became weak and rudderless and abandoned many of your principles
….most people of all political stripes will view you as a failure.
And you know what?
it’s because you are a failure.
George Bush launched a couple wars and killed some islaimsts. Good for him. Every other aspect of his presidency is an unmitigated disaster - from immigration to the economy.
Even Wendy is at a loss to come up with a substantive list of his conservative accomplishmants.
All I can say is - If this is the best the right can do, we are all in big trouble.
Comment by INP — January 20, 2009 @ 11:02 am
And the lesson here, ladies and gents, is:
…..if you are a conservative and you happen to be elected to an office where you can promote connservative principles and enact conservative laws
…..and you fail to act in an aggressive and forthright manner to implement your conservative agenda, because you have a soft heart and you want to be liked by everyone,
several things will happen:
….the left will keep hating you no matter what because you do not share their wretched whacko pathology
….the right will start hating you because you became weak and rudderless and abandoned many of your principles
….most people of all political stripes will view you as a failure.
And you know what?
it’s because you are a failure.
George Bush launched a couple wars and killed some islamists. Good for him. Every other aspect of his presidency is an unmitigated disaster - from immigration to the economy.
Even Wendy is at a loss to come up with a substantive list of his conservative accomplishmants.
All I can say is - If this is the best the right can do, we are all in big trouble.
Comment by INP — January 20, 2009 @ 11:03 am
INP,
Your post got me thinking. I see a rise of a phenomenon which has been described as “compassionate conservatism”. Mike Huckabee talked of it and I believe GW implemented it with his policies.
As I see it, this new brand or branch of conservatism uses the state to implement Christian values of charity (read government charity), compassion and forgiveness while maintaining traditional social values of family, anti-abortion, etc. Its liberalism light except its motivated by sincere Christian concern for the less fortunate as opposed to liberalism which doesn’t give a wit for the poor and seeks power and the poor is the vehicle.
Is this GW’s legacy that he pioneered this school of thought within conservatism?
Thoughts anyone?
Comment by RM — January 20, 2009 @ 11:31 am
The “thrill” of taking out Saddam? Well I hope for your sake that all the dead and displaced Iraqi’s were worth your giddy little “thrill”. One who looks to George Bush for strength must have a few wires crossed.
Bye George! Your lapses of memory, stuttering and inability to chew food will be sorely missed!
Comment by matt — January 22, 2009 @ 6:25 am