To bring you this important message. President-Elect Obama is going to be around for at least four years (and, hopefully, eight), fates willing, and I can write him an open letter that he’s not going to read any time. However, fates also willing, W. will be out of the public eye in a few days, and it can’t come fast enough for me.
Let me be honest and say that I’ve never been one to be swayed by a title. I don’t get all mushy-kneed when hearing that some is a Famous Person or the CEO of a (failing) big corporation. I wouldn’t curtsy to the Queen of England–by the way, we are a democracy. We don’t have to bow down to royalty–and I certainly won’t kiss the ring of the Pope.
To me, respect has to be earned, not given. I won’t respect anyone, even, say the president of the United States who hasn’t earned that respect. Some would vociferously argue that the position of president deserves respect in and of itself. I agree. That’s why I am doubly disgusted when someone acts in such a way as to disgrace that position. Said person DOES NOT deserve any respect; indeed he (and discouragingly, it has been he up until now) deserves censure instead.
You can tell where I’m going with this, I bet. Still-President-In-Name-Only, W., gave his farewell speech last night. Yes, I know it seems like he gave one just days ago, and days before that, but this is it–really. I have such a low opinion of the man that I held out no hope he would offer anything in the way of substantial mea culpae, but I did not expect him to put the total W./fairy tale/alternate universe spin on his occupation of the White House.
How bad was it? Well, Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post got it exactly right. W. waxed poetic about how Afghanistan has gone from dominating and subjugating women to encouraging young girls to go to school. He forgot to mention that said girls risked having acid thrown in their faces on the way to said schools, however. In addition, violence against women in Afghan has risen since the fall of the Taliban. Here are two articles about the dire situation. This is not even the tip of the iceberg. You can look it up if you want to learn more.
I didn’t watch the address as it was given, but both Keith and Rachel covered it last night, of course. Keith did it with his bud, Chris Matthews. Now, I have no love for Chris, but he really tore into W. for the speech, and rightly so. The only thing I would disagree with Chris about is W.’s mental capacities to handle the job. Chris thinks he has them, but I don’t. Obviously. I think he’s truly stupid which allowed him to be easily swayed.
The other part of W.’s speech that royally pissed me off was when he piously cloaked himself in the morality of religion. He spouted some shit about how the freedom we’ve been given by God…WTF? First of all, ‘freedom given from God’ is an oxymoron. Second of all, how offensive is it to assume that you are more worthy of freedom than someone else? He shoved the idea of ‘spreading freedom’ around the world down our throats, and more sadly, down the throats of hapless victims around the world. I am an agnostic deist, but I would be even more offended if I were a true believer of Christ. W.’s actions were most definitely NOT Christ-like.
I have read several op-ed writers write that they almost feel sorry for W. because he was so clueless, blah blah blah. This is exactly what Arianna Huffington was warning against in her article which I previously cited. W.’s popularity has risen slightly since he started his whitewash tour, and it’s probably because people feel sorry for him. Well, that and the fact that it’s the Republicans who have increased their support for W. Approval from the Dems and the Indies has dropped.
But I digress. With W.’s minions pushing the meme that W.’s reign has been hunky-dory and that he’s kept America safe (if you don’t count September 11th, 2001), nay, he’s made our country stronger, they are keeping their eye firmly to the future. Look at Reagan. Trickle-down/dumbing-down/hands’ off governing….remember any of that? Now, he has an airport named for him, and some Republicans (gag) are pushing to have him carved into Mount Rushmore.
Which is a whole nother can o’ worms.
Let me get to my point (finally!, you say). I would feel sorry for W. if he had contained the damage only to himself. Hell, if he pulled this kind of crap on himself, I would send him a buck or two–plus a sympathy card. However, and this is really important, he fucked over the entire world. My brother (a Republican for the most part) passed along a joke. Clinton only fucked one person; W. fucked the whole country. I dirtied it up for you. You’re welcome. I would posit that he fucked over the whole world, which is why we cannot afford to show him any pity.
Because of him, President-Elect Obama will have a herculean task ahead of him. There are so many things broken, where can PE Obama even start? The economy? The environment? Reversing the bonehead decisions and laws that W. passed? The unabated corruption running through our federal departments, specifically the Justice Department? A department so corrupt, it allows The (now former) Chief of the Voting Rights Section to blithely send an email containing this egregious remark to Bradley Schlozman (the jackass in the other links). Not only did Tanner send it, Schlozman forwarded it on to several Department officials with the note, “Y’all will appreciate Tanner’s response.” Really. This makes me feel so safe and secure. I could go on listing W.’s trangressions, but I’m tired of it and him. Suffice to say, we can never forget how awful he’s been and what he’s done to damage us and the world.
So, this is my farewell to the worst president ever. I would like to say in closing, fuck you, George W. Bush–and your Darth Vader VP, Dick Cheney, too. There aren’t enough words in the English language to express my contempt for you. You did your damnedest to drag this country to the dregs of the shit, but WE WON’T LET YOU. You will not win with your twisted ideologies and contorted sense of morality. You will not have the last word in the narrative that is America. For eight years, we have lived in an autocratic theocracy, with you intent on systematically eroding everything we hold dear, using fear, hate, and false morality in order to do so. You have shown not one iota of remorse for what you have done, which is why I dearly hope the next time I see you, it will be in an orange jumpsuit. I won’t hold my breath, but should it happen, I will weep for joy, relief, and hope, once again. For now, I can only exhale and help the new president work to ensure that our country can become a shadow of herself once again.
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