Your 2 Cents

If getting worked up about Bush-Cheney gives you comfort and explains all evil in your mind, please feel free to stay there. If you’re stuck on January 2001 to January 2009, fine. If you need Bush-Cheney to deflect the problems our current president is responsible for, good, I hope it makes you perfectly happy. If you can’t admit that the new president has made significant mistakes (as have been outlined extensively) and being obsessed with Bush-Cheney’s mistakes are the most theraputic way to get you there, don’t worry, be happy.

If you think Bush-Cheney was the worst presidency, you must not have lived through Jimmy Carter - but, that’s O.K., you need your Emmanuel Goldstein to take your mind off our current problems.

I understand, you’re o.k. with a president who promises no lobbyists in his white house but puts them in there anyway. You’re o.k. with a president who promises transparency and posting all legislation on line for 5 days and we get neither. You’re o.k. with Obama twiddling his thumbs on ramping up our troop count in Afghanistan. You’re o.k. with Maoists and self avowed communists in advisory positions to the president - fine.

Using Bush and Cheney as an excuse for this level of government malfeasance (and non-feasance)is growing thinner and thinner by the minute. You cling to it though - don’t bother facing facts about the shortcomings of the new guy.

Forget about Bush and Cheney - they no longer hold office. The man who does hold office has been a colossal screw up, from voting for TARP to Auto Bailouts to the ACRON-SEIU enriching stimulus package to Skip Gates to treading water regarding Afghanistan to his handling of Major Nidal Malik Hasn (shout-outs before telling us not to jump to conclusions about the obvious).

With all of this incompetence, all pushed on us inside of a year, Bush and company are a quick-fading memory.

Mary Griffin - No photography was allowed under the Bush admin of fallen soldiers, even those who wanted photos. It was BANNED. Obama was simply paying his respects, and in an open, transparent manner, photographers are allowed wherever he goes. With respect to photo ops, Bush had many - “Mission Accomplished” all dressed up, “Thanksgiving”, etc.

Jo King, you make a good point about the support of orphanges in Iraq and Afghanistan, but you miss some very important points:
Private donations have supported orphanges and poor families in Iraq, Afghanstan and other countries for decades, even when the US government was not spending any money to “help” these countries.  Organizations like ChildFund, CARE, Save the Children, World Vision, to name but a few have supported these needy folks DESPITE the interference of the US and other governments.  After the Russians left Afghanistan and the west stopped arming them and left them to rot, many organizations kept working away to help the poor and orphans, many of which were directly created by our Governments military aid.  Once we decide to quit bombing and shooting these people towards a better life and pull out our military, these agencies will still be there to pick up the pieces and help the “happy” orphans.  What you need to be asking is that we stop the fighting and start the helping, because as one that has visited many of these “happy” orphans, I can assure you that they deserve better from us all.

“Are we our brother’s keeper?”... Apparently not when it comes to “me only” radical right-wingers as to affordable health care for all American citizens.

“I can just hear Obama now: “It’s all George Bush’s fault.“...Anyone else having hearing problems re: hearing Obama blaming Junior over the two governors’ race outcomes?  Listening to Limbaugh can cause people to imagine wild and crazy things.

“just look at how the federal government has managed the H1N1 vaccine program.”...Perhaps the Feds should not have contracted with four U.S. manufacturers, such as GlaxoSmithKline, to produce the product (delays from them are occurring); perhaps contracted entire business to overseas producers?

“President Obama went to Dover Air Force Base in the middle of the night to salute the 18 fallen soldiers who came back from Afghanistan…I don’t remember President Bush ever going there”...That’s because during his last 7 years as President all while fallen soldiers remains were being brought back and while he refused allowing the press to help us all honor them; Bush Junior never went to Dover…NEVER.  Ditto for war-monger Cheney. O.K. for Junior Bush and war-for-profit Cheney who caused those deaths to never go Dover, but bad Obama goes?