I rarely talk about politics, but a couple quick opinions on the old and new President that came up in recent conversation with friends.
Bush
There are many possible reasons to hate Bush. My reason is that I think he should have released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve back when oil was in the $140s. This was his last chance to do something for the people, but in the end he showed where his interests were. When oil was at its highs and everyone was screaming about how hard it was to do daily business and crying for alternative energy, there were two options for him. By releasing oil from the SPR, he could have either stopped/slowed the upward speculation or at the very least made some money to help pay down this huge debt he helped saddle America with. Instead, he chose the other option, which was to promote finding more oil. Who benefits from trying to find more oil? All the oil men who are associated with Bush and Cheney. The Republican party also gained because it gave them something to run on. Palin wasn't selected because she was a woman to get the Hilary supporters, she was selected because of her advocacy of drilling for oil in Alaska. People like to make fun of Dubya and say he's dumb, but I don't think he's really that dumb. He just happens to have many different agendas, and this was another case of benefitting his insiders at the expense of everyone else.
Obama
When we look back many years from now, I hope that people won't remember Obama for being the first black President. To me, that would mean that he'd failed. He takes the Presidency right after one of the worst Presidents and during one of the worst crises the US has ever faced. He also has a filibuster-proof Congress (not really, but pretty close) in his favor. If he can't be remembered for either stabilizing us or getting us out of this hole, then he will have failed since he's probably one of the most highly anticipated Presidents ever.
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