George W. Bush, Miss me Yet Image: Centrist Blog
FromPolitico: Obama has been heckled in Manhattan by protesters angry over AIDS Funding and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. His response to criticism has become rather pat: The Republican’s, if elected, will go back to Bush policy. If that were true, than those protesting might be better off. George W. Bush, the president the left loves to hate, along with a Republican Congress did more for AIDS relief than Mr. Obama.
From the Clarion Ledger:
"Begun in 2003 by former Republican President George W. Bush, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR was hailed as the largest effort by any nation to combat a single disease.
As a candidate in 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama pledged to add $1 billion annually to the PEPFAR fund that Bush and Congress created to fight AIDS in Africa and other developing nations.
But as president, world health advocates point out that Obama proposed only a $366 million increase for the coming fiscal year - which comes on top of another broken promise from last year. In 2009, Obama proposed spending only $165 million for PEPFAR."
What Obama fails to realize, for whatever reason, is that people’s memories are not that short. The left may have demonized George W. Bush, who many on the right had described as more than moderate, and the Congress in concert with Mr. Bush in his first term, lost the base due to an increase in entitlement programs and “pork”.
When George W. Bush wanted to work on Social Security – he was met with a hailstorm of criticism for suggesting that he had a way to strengthen the program – basically giving those participating in the program (anyone who works) the option, and merely an option, of using the same retirement program that the Congress and federal employees enjoy. That notion sent the press and the Democrats who were in Congress round the proverbial bend – yet, today the Republican’s are dubbed the “party of no”, where the Democrats, only a few short years ago, were, in effect, guilty of hampering improvements to social security. The premise of the “just say no” by Democrats to privatizing social security benefits was simple: The masses could not handle it, and would bankrupt themselves. Seriously, the largest employer today (the Federal Government), uses that program, which has safeguards in place for retirees – meanwhile, Social Security is going broke as it is being used for entitlement programs left and right that have zip to do with retirement.
How bad is it, when the man the press and the left loved to hate, and insisted would go down as the “worst President in History”, is the beneficiary of being “missed” by the populace. From Billboards, to tee-shirts to polls, Bush and his band of maligned Republicans did more for the economy (recovery after September 11th attacks on New York and Washington DC), in actual jobs created, did more in necessary entitlement programs for U.S. And global citizens (Prescription drug benefits for senior citizens and AIDS funding), and incidentally, kept the nation safe from terrorist attacks.
When did Bush become stalled, so to speak, and unable to move any improvements forward? When, in 2006, the Congress changed political party hands and ended up being controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. It is not that Bush’s policy decisions were a hit with Conservatives (recall the Mexican Dollar with George Bush’s photo neatly photo shopped onto the currency); on the contrary, many viewed the former President as too liberal. Which is somewhat true, Bush was a moderate, who put country and humanity first.
Whereas, Obama appears to put Party and Ideology before the needs of the American’ people and is unable and unwilling to compromise, and most importantly, he is unable to take direct criticism without going into campaign mode and pointing the finger elsewhere – of course, at the Republicans. So much for bringing unity to the Government – one has to own one’s mistakes, at least once in a blue moon.
No comments:
Post a Comment