Be thankful
for family and friends, be thankful for good health, be thankful for life but be
thankful for a president? What? From the day I was born in 1966, there have
been nine presidents and I could only vote for five of them. So, which vote has been a good vote?
My first
presidential vote was during the re-election campaign of Ronald Reagan. One can say I wasn’t very knowledgeable but as
a young African-American male, I was supposed to support the Reverend Jessie
Jackson but I didn’t. I always felt I
was a conservative who carried a brief case to college classes. And as a business
student, I was learning how to make money. Yes, Regan did some good things such
as stopping rampant inflation allowing a big boom in our economy. But he did
some bad things too, such as starting an un-necessary war in Grenada and trading
arms for hostages which was against the law.
Then there
was George H.W. Bush. How could anyone
really to go against his “Thousand points of Lights”. Yes, I was caught up in
it but my views were changing. Bush got America involved in yet, another war by putting
500,000 troops in the Middle East to kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait . Although
the war was short, there are long-lasting effects including the rise of Al-Qaeda
and Osama bin laden.
Then there
was Bill Clinton and the 1992 National Democratic Convention in New York City in which the
late but great Barbara Jordan was the Keynote speaker. You see, in 1990, I was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis and at the 1992 convention, I saw someone who looked like me
and she was wheeled onto the stage. She gave a dynamic keynote address which
got me thinking even more about the Democratic Party. Although Bill Clinton
took rights away from others with ‘Don’t
ask, don’t tell’ and Defense of Marriage Act, he knew those decisions were bad
for America, and yes, he was playing politics. But like that famous Bob Dylan
song ‘Times they are a changin’, change was in happening in America and in
me.
Then in
2000, America
elected George W Bush. I was now on the side of people; all people. President Bush
got us into yet, another war that would cost nearly 4,500 men and women their
lives and for what. A young Secretary of
State John Kerry in 1971 testified before the Senate Foreign Relations
committee uttered these famous words “. How do you ask a man to be the
last man to die for a mistake?”
Well, we can ask Bush how do you ask a man or woman to be the last
person to die for a lie. America ’s
change and my change were now complete.
President Bush, also, gave the
American people huge budget deficits, a poor federal response to Hurricane
Katrina, a justification for torture of detainees in an unjust war and in 2008,
and a banking crisis that is still negatively being felt still today.
Now let me
think, is there something good that President Bush did for the American people?
I’m in deep thought. Give me some time. I’m sure I’ll think of something. Oh, if you are rich, you are richer. And if you are poor, you are poorer. If you are a soldier, you are fighting in a
foreign land because of a lie. And if you dislike America ,
now you hate America . Good job Mr. President!
So because
of President Bush, the American people now have President Obama, the first
black president. President Obama appointed
the first Latina
on the Supreme Court. He speaks that we,
the American people, is this together.
He speaks of fairness and equality. He is getting the American people
out of the hole that President Bush dug for us
President
Obama often says “it’s the right thing to do”.
Then, Don’t ask, Don’t Tell and the
Defense of Marriage Act went down. He
is fighting for immigration reform and gun safety among other things. And if President Obama appoints an Asian
American to a possible open seat on the Supreme Court, that will solidify that
vote in the democratic column for a generation. And It would not be because of
politics but because it’s the right thing to do.
Therefore, because of the horrendous policies of President Bush, he gave us the well thought-out polices of President Obama. Therefore, we have to give credit to a president who truly deserves our thanks. Thank you, Mr. President.
Therefore, because of the horrendous policies of President Bush, he gave us the well thought-out polices of President Obama. Therefore, we have to give credit to a president who truly deserves our thanks. Thank you, Mr. President.
1 comment:
You're a republican?
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