After the Sept. 11 attacks, George W. Bush was given a unique opportunity to prove himself as a leader to a country that doubted him. He told us that if we fought together against this terrorist threat, then we would win. But for much of the nation, Bush has been the terror, and the battle against him has become the most apparent one.
Beginning with a narrow defeat in the previous election, it was obvious that liberals could not bear a loss to a man they despised so greatly. From Al Gore's facial hair that screamed midlife crisis to Bush's limo being egged upon his inauguration it was a disgusting display of outrage from a classless group of Americans.
Addressing issues such as Bush's conservative social agenda, criticized even by Republicans, ultra-liberals climbed up the stairs of their parents' basements for the first time since high school and hit the streets. Avid protestors came to life and were able to add numbers by enlisting the help of Hollywood and high school kids looking to buy pot.
From there, we advance to the War on Terror. Every aspect of this campaign has come under great scrutiny, obviously centering on the war in Iraq. We have all realized that we have not found any weapons of mass destruction there. Plain and simple, we were wrong about that. Despite the fact that we did remove a brutal dictator, the liberal nation took this mistake and ran with it.
You can no longer walk down the street in Georgetown on the weekend without at least three college students harassing you with fliers and asking you if you want to "help defeat George Bush." These individuals have come to live and die by the phrase "anybody but Bush."
This thought process continues to baffle me. You would rather have anyone in office than Bush? Perhaps if foreign born individuals could run for office Saddam Hussein himself would be a candidate to fit that description. These same individuals seem to think he should still be in power in Iraq, so now that he's not, would you like to have him here? Instead of working to acquire a candidate to defeat Bush, they have made a point to go negative.
Protests around the country have become as ritualistic as NFL Sunday. The recent march in New York before the Republican National Convention was a perfect example. For the most part, any type of message other than "we hate Bush" has been lost, But the echo sounds like "we hate America."
Finally came the crowning achievement: "Fahrenheit 9/11." Without an ounce of objectivity, this movie was a cheap shot to our nation as a whole. Under a foreign dictatorship, Moore's propaganda could be put to good use. In reality, this movie just made America look as weak as we ever have to the rest of the world. Now foreign nations have undeniable proof that we are a nation at war with ourselves. Now not only can they hate us but they can laugh at us as well.
At the Democratic National Convention, the issue of a "divided America" was addressed. Bush was blamed for this. Now, I for one believe that Bush has greatly let the country down and has run the Oval Office like his personal playground. But just based on the disgusting displays of disrespect over the past four years, coupled with a presidential candidate who can't decide if he wants pancakes or eggs in the morning, the democrats will not get my vote in '04. Instead, I vote that we as a country attempt to come back together as "one America". Whether it is terror from within or abroad, the toughest battles are yet to come for the United States and we need to be able to walk that road together.
