[Grovenet] The Oath of President replaces the Oaf of President

[Allen Warren]

Katie, I agree with your statement we should give ourselves a collective pat on the back.  I also echo your statements about our election system.  The
beauty of OUR United States of America, as you point out, is indeed that we get to vote every 4 years
in hopes of getting a leader who will at best do no worse but hopefully
do better than the incumbent leader, or if the incumbent is re-elected
that he/she improves on the last 4 years. We now get to see if we
elected wisely. And yes, in less than 4 years we’ll go through the process
again with renewed hope and fervor. 

Yesterday’s Stock Market performance was the worst performance in
history for the Market on Inauguration Day. On CNN last evening a
couple of Finance folks stated the Market’s performance was a parting
(sic) “gift” for GW. I didn’t but should’ve changed over to FOX News (aka the Republican station) as
I’m guessing they might’ve said the Market’s performance showed a lack
of confidence in the new administration. Either way, it’s been an
extremely difficult past 8 years since GW first took the oath of
President in January of 2001: the unemployment % is now 2x greater; we
are still in 2 so-called wars (Iraq & Afghanistan); the downturn in
the U.S. economy is the 2nd worst in history, only surpassed by the
Great Depression of the 30’s; and GW leaves the White House with a
disapproval rating only surpassed by President Nixon.

Even
though I absolutely did not vote for GW either time, I asked myself if
all the troubles while he was in office were attributable to him. In my crude, amateur
analysis I think many of the troubles are indeed of Mr. Bush's own doing. The
seeds of the financial crisis were probably sewn as far back as the
Carter administration. But GW’s focus as our elected leader seemed only to be on Iraq, or
rather, toppling Saddam Hussein. He seemed to think that as President
he knew what was best for the United States and, with his re-election,
he was validated by all U.S. residents that he was focusing on what was
most important. If only he had done something as simple as conduct a
survey. But no, he plowed ahead with his agenda, secure in his own
belief that all Americans were following in his Leadership wake.

But today I woke up feeling better
than I have in over 8 years, wrapped in the belief that we elected a
President who understands what is required to be a good Leader of these
great United States, understands he needs to provide a Vision we all
can embrace and call our own, understands he needs to enlist for our
support and use it, and finally, understands we’ll follow and respect
his Leadership if he respects us, his fellow Americans.

 
Allen Warren




________________________________
From: Katie Allnutt <allnutt at verizon.net>
To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 7:44:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] The Oath of President replaces the Oaf of President

I think we also need to give ourselves a collective pat on the back.
The US has a tradition of peaceful transitions from one leader to  
another every 4 or 8 years regardless of whether the new president is  
a Democrat or a Republican.  Not every country has such luxury and I  
am thoroughly grateful that we are one of the few that do.
And I agree with you David. We can work hard and make things better  
for the next generation(s).

We also have the luxury of asking for something better next time,  
always. Regardless of how good Obama turns out to be we have the  
right to say, we want an even better president in 4 years. Right now  
though, I am happy that we are better off this morning than we were  
yesterday morning.




Katie