That being said, I was disgusted by what I heard from The Hill:
The crowd packed on the west side of the Capitol grounds serenaded President Bush in mocking fashion when he took to the inaugural stage alongside Vice President Dick Cheney.I can see and am on board with the stony silence part. I know that the vast majority of Americans have been unhappy with the Bush presidency, and I respect that. At the same time, can you please keep your mocking glee to yourself? I have been subjected to classless act after classless act from the winners of the last election for over two months now, from resident MSNBC liberal harpy Rachel Maddow's "Lame Duck Watch" to crowds that can't wait to humiliate George W. Bush wherever he goes. He's as fortunate that he's leaving as the rest of the country is. I appreciate his service, even though I don't agree with everything that he's done during his presidency. The bottom line is that we deserve who we elect, we elected him, and we are as much a problem as he has been. I really hope that we will treat President Obama differently. Let's not leave his presidency with the US looking like the proverbial National Mall after his inauguration celebration yesterday.
"Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good-bye," a section of the crowd chanted.
The crowd packed immediately below the podium received Bush in stony silence when he took his seat on the stage surrounding the podium where Barack Obama was scheduled to take the oath office to become the 44th president of the United States.
2 comments:
Sorro, I really enjoyed Obama's address. It addressed reality fairly well, and called on us all to do our part and get to work. I felt sentiments of "yesteryear" when the values that made us prosperous were in full-force, namely hard work, integrity, hope, etc.
Then I was hit with the realistic (pessimistic?) thought that a huge slice of Americans lack many of these traits. Integrity? Try finding that in the greedy Wall St higher-uppers as well as the dopes who knowingly borrowed well beyond their means. Try finding a work ethic in those who are exploiting the welfare system. Try finding hope in guys like me who busted his ass for years and still has student loans and is having a hard time getting a mortgage.
I am not saying that this is an all-or-nothing situation like the Law of Consecration, where we all have to give it all in order for us to be Enoch-ized. But we need millions and millions more to buy into the vision. That vision must be presented by a gifted leader (Obama? I hope so!) and stoked hot by the contributions of as many citizens who will have part.
Unfortunately, I find it hard to rely on the millions in the Mall who left hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds of garbage for SOMEBODY ELSE to clean up. It's that "somebody else" attitude which has permeated our nation to the point where it is our reflexive natures.
Come on! You can't cheer the man who has just told you to contribute, and then leave your filth on the very ground where you lauded him!
Excellent points by both Sorro and Brady. I agree that trashing Bush is a useless, even destructive pursuit. I was all for trashing his policies when I thought they were bad (and that was often), but I don't think he was acting maliciously in implementing them (and the same might not be true for some of his advisors).
I also think that Obama, while very heavy on platitudes, has the power to at least get a lot of people moving in the right direction. This is good. He is simultaneously managing expectations, which is also good. He seems to have pretty good judgment, and I think that will make him a good overall president. Except the whole massive deficit getting bigger part.
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