Opinion

Opinion: A legacy of change: Somewhat right in a very wrong way

By Waltar Lazarz

Posted on Oct. 09, 2008, at 12:00 a.m.

Looking back, the storm of an inauguration that President Bush received is fitting for what followed. It certainly didn’t help our president to have his initial means of entry into office seriously contested by direct questioning in the Supreme Court and indirect questions in the mind of every voter. “W” weathered the tempest and moved forward with his plan – tax cuts and a moderate, politically uniting platform he ran on. Yes, that was his platform eight years ago.

Then 9/11 changed everything – Bush is right about this. Unfortunately, he is right in the wrong way. Americans correctly rejected W’s argument that the attacks called for more executive power and leeway, and Congress should have been so wise as to agree with us.

9/11 has changed many things, from our nation’s economy becoming much more global, to the arts and specifically to our notion of heroes symbolically changing in movies: Our “Dark Knight” was forced to hide from an angry public after saving Gotham. 9/11 changed our world because it showed that the innovative and strong America of the 90s had something to fear in the future.

Fear and its politics became a polished weapon against America and were used by the Oval Office. America is ideologically better for having a War on Terror, a strong executive branch and the Bush Doctrine – a right to wars of prevention – but these standards were each tainted or completely misused. The War on Terror was unfortunately used to justify the war in Iraq with the help of the Bush Doctrine, and a stronger executive branch dominated our system of checks and balances. The truth became harder and harder to find.

As such, truth became more important as it became ever so fleeting. The politics of W’s one-time advisor, Karl Rove, define the current presidential race. While Rovian politics operate on basic ideas – taking away opponents’ strengths by making them weaknesses through deception – they go further than ever before. Sometimes they go too far, evidenced by conservatives’ negative and embarrassed reactions to some of McCain’s attack ads. Today, we hope to see respect and truth in our candidates, and politicians will rightly be wary of being swift-boated in the future.

Much has changed in the last eight years. Somehow, Americans seem to have forgotten all this change. Everyone seems to desire an agent of change in this presidential election. It is true that America wants someone different than George W. Bush, but I categorically disagree that America wants change in their government. What America desires is stability. We have had enough change in the last eight years for two decades. We want to feel sure about the president, our economy, our energy future and our health care. Joe Six-Pack wants to believe in his country again. President Bush has taken that away.

There is one thing we can be sure of: George W. Bush has been the real agent of change. This is his legacy as of now, with his second term unfinished. I submit that he can still change – for it is what defines him – and change for the better. We realistically expect nothing at this point from that which has fed us fear and deceit, yet we must still hope for our president. We must hope that he approaches our nation and our world with one final change as we collectively stare down a mounting crisis. George W. Bush must change one last time, admit his mistakes and tell America to come together to avoid what could be disaster for our global economic system.

America would like him, for a change.

Walter Lazarz is a junior construction management student.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.