Don't get me wrong, I am happy Obama won. I cried a little the night he won. It was a milestone moment of American history. Yes, Bush has really messed up over the past eight years, BUT he is STILL THE PRESIDENT.
I first thought it was cute when near the end of the election Obama started talking from behind a podium with a campaign logo which closely resembled the presidential seal. I'm sure some guy in their advertising agency came up with that and he deserves a raise. A subtle way of easing the electorate into accepting him in a presidential setting. The prime time special days before the election had the senator speaking from an office which looked like a clone of the oval office. Again, making us think of him in a presidential setting. The more we see him looking presidential the easier it would be for us to vote for him. And it worked, thank God!
For the most part, I like the way he has been handling the transition. Quickly and on a regular basis he has been naming members of his cabinet and has been making some wonderful choices. Personally, I would have like to have seen an old friend of mine, Jack Reed, picked for Defense Secretary, but it does make sense to keep the current man in place; the whole "not changing horses in mid stream" thing. Naming Hillary as Secretary of State seemed an easier pick than trying to get her on the Supreme Court. There's even rumor of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg as Ambassador to the UN. Cool!
But Bush is still president. There is no such thing as "The Office of the President Elect". The new president doesn't get to propose policy before he gets the keys to the Oval Office. Bush is a buffoon and still gets to be the top buffoon until January 20. You could almost hear it in his voice recently in a press conference on the financial crisis when Bush stated that he was keeping Obama appraised of what was happening and what the administration was doing. There was a tone biting behind his words as if to say, "Hey! Remember me! Yeah....still the president! Me! Over here!"
I am looking forward to January 20th. I wish I had the time and money to take my son to DC and see the inaugural in person; to be able to say, "I was there". President Bush should still be given the respect due until that day and not given the bum's rush.
2 comments:
Well, if you want to make the moment similar, set up a big screen TV, invite 400-500 people to stand between you and the tv, turn the air conditioning down to zero, and you'll have the same effect, cuz that's all you'll get to see anyway...
For the first time in history we have an unofficial co-presidency. I think, people want to see Bush out of office sooner than Jan 20th.BAsically he's just cleaning his desk out now. His administration is so tired and fallen apart, barely anything is left but what Cheney hasn't burned yet. When Obama speaks, the stocks surge, when Bush speaks, they plummet in regard to the economic meltdown. ANd what's he done? Handed it all over to Obama, so I can see why people see Obama as more in charge. That said, Obama has repeated his statement about Bush is still *the* President. We can't wait for his departure. I'm pretty glum about the state of the world, the economy and so forth. But I'd be moreso that way if I had McCain/Palin to look forward to.
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