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President George W Bush closes health and fitness speech with children at the Dallas YMCA.
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While I don't agree with every decision Bush's cabinet made this term, I remain proud that my vote helped to put him into the White House. He faces challenges far greater than anyone anticipated, and he handles each trial as a true leader. The presidency is a position where the leader is a spokesman for his team. Has every idea come to pass solely the creation of "Dubya?" No. Is he just a puppet for an agenda-filled Republican cabinet? I'd like to think, no.
As President of the United States, Bush is a representative of the people. How fitting it is then, that he accomplishes representation and yet has not lived his life as a politician? He has made mistakes, as have we all. His daughters are college students who, like millions of others, have skirted trouble with the law for underage drinking. Yet while most politicians bury their past indiscretions or family history, Bush humbly presents his to show he is only human.
Every politician has an agenda and a platform as it is the nature of politics. When it comes to choosing between a leader who will wiggle, squirm, and lie out of blame for past mistakes to one who takes responsibility, and hopes to learn from past blunders, I'll choose the latter, because these actions demonstrate honor.
It's easy to make fun of the rich kid who borrowed everything from daddy. Bush Jr., could not have made it through an Ivy League College based on his father's donations alone. Neither Yale nor any esteemed university could allow that. Passing a student who did not earn top grades would only discredit the institution.
Critics scoff at Bush's use of language, claiming he created a new form of speech called "The Bushism." Would I rather have a president in office that will speak off-the-cuff and not wait around for a professional speech writer to draft his every word? Absolutely. I choose to listen to someone who speaks with genuine thought, even rough around the edges, as opposed to one who delivers highly polished, insincere verbiage.
It is easy to poke jabs at this president for taking military action in the Middle East. Some jibe that he is trying to finish the job his father couldn't. Others claim that he is no more than a gun-shooting cowboy from Texas. Perhaps his intentions are a bit nobler than skeptics give him credit for. In Iraq, a political dictator --who terrorized his people for more than two decades-- is now removed from power, allowing their society a chance for education and freedom. They have not yet found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but does that mean the war is invalid and unjustified?
Is the United States nothing more than a worldwide bully? Watching video clips of Iraqi people dancing in the street after their liberation, joy and relief shining upon their faces, tells me that we did the right thing. We stood up for the underdog long oppressed by the bully.
September 11, 2001, was one of the most horrifying events in the history of the United States. Innocent people were killed because a radical group of anarchists decided we are a vile and destructive nation. If the members of Al Qaeda would have met with Bush, as opposed to using terrorism, to discuss how our different cultures can coexist in the world, I'm sure he would have lent an ear. This world is not always so civilized; however, taking action against those who deliberately set out to kill thousands of hardworking mothers, fathers, and children is justified. We had to do something to vindicate those who were killed by Al Qaeda. How could we let ordinary citizens die in vain?
People have a right to protest. Individuals have a right to voice their opinions. No single thought is more or less valuable than the next in a democracy. That's what makes our country a great nation. We have the freedom to be whom we choose, to tell others what we believe and to pursue our moral beliefs. Many people don't care for Bush, and that's fine with me. I respect him and appreciate the composure he has kept in what can only be described as a very tumultuous term.
Instead of pointing fingers for the events past, let us instead work together to ensure that such catastrophes don't repeat. We can't change that past -- we can only work on creating a more peaceful and hopeful future. Theodore Roosevelt once said, "If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness." To me, it appears that President Bush believes in this quote too.
