Specter of the President

I realize that there are a lot of people who have voted for the President, and to be honest with you there are certain things that President Bush did that I think I even like, but more or less I have come to think that the pressure from the September 11 tragedy has left a very blatant mark on the President, and he has become incapable of looking at anything without his “Conservative” glasses. My latest banter comes on the heel of a bill that passed both the House and the Senate (something really to be proud of in this partisan environment) and yet when it reached to the person whose counsel and opinion have started to matter less and less in the populace (only 33% of the people approve of the job President Bush is doing) he vetoes it saying that he thinks the American values are under attack and there is a Moral Boundary that shouldn’t be crossed here.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t a moral boundary crossed when defenseless children in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon were being killed. I guess those killings are to be classified under the “Oops I did it again” folder in the Bush administration (which is filled up to the brim anyways). There are so many things wrong here that I can’t even begin to imagine, but I think I will start with the most basic hypocrisy that this administration is pursuing.

Although you will find that the Bush administration is very glad that they are protectors of peace and democracy and even lives everywhere, their policies are anything but. There have been more innocent casualties of war (after Vietnam) in this President’s period than any other (and I think if we take into account the global effects of the decisions of this president that my just push him overboard). With stem cell research there was one avenue that Bush could have acted to save some lives. To me you can never put a value on human life, despite it being any creed, race or religion, and yet this administration keeps forgetting that fact, conveniently I might add. I can understand the fact that the President is trying to save the lives of people who can’t speak for themselves, but then again I question why not put into jail every one of the parents who put those embryos to freeze out there in the first place. Aren’t they as guilty of committing this heinous crime of bringing a life into this world knowing full well that they can’t either afford to give to this new born life everything that he/she needs or they are just too busy in their own lives that they refuse to take care of it. No, no moral boundary has been crosses there, and yet to save another human being’s life through the use of stem cells is proving a dangerous decision.

It seems so blasé that every president wants to leave a legacy instead of save lives. This has been the trend of every president to date, no exceptions. The only man and president that I can ever have any sort of respect for would be George Washington, and only for the reason that he wasn’t after the glory of the president’s post, he already had won enough praise through his “Kicking the Redcoats out” thingy. But after than the post of the president grew its own specter that everyman since then has tried to control but can never do so. It seems ironic at best that President’s decisions take into effect the economics of life. That the only reason the US will even intervene is when enough blood has been spilt or the ends justify the means.

President Bush and not only him but anyone who is going to come after him are going to have to deal with issues that this century is going to throw at them with breakneck speed and they won’t be able to handle it.

A century ago, it was easy to be the President, your aura was enough to scare the boogey man out of someone, you made a few decisions, showed your face at a few inaugurations and signed some documents and you were free to smoke cigars in the Oval office and have red meat lunches with the best. Now the job isn’t easy anymore and yet every president seems to like the perks of the job, but no one is ever willing to take on the responsibility that comes with it. Every single person is involved with pleasing the Specter and not the people who elected him (which also brings in the foray the discussion of the Electoral College, but let us leave that for another day).

The president’s post needs to change and change fast, otherwise there won’t be a country around to rule anyways.