COLUMN: Bush keeps playing through pessimism
President’s Day has come and gone. For most of us, we think of it as a day free from school. For grownups out there, it’s a day off work when you have to pay the local Boy Scout troop $20 to put a flag out on your lawn. Other than that, you just kind of bum around.
Its popularity probably ranks right up there with other celebrations like Boxing Day, Yom Kippur and the like. On your day, when google.com doesn’t even do a special theme for you on their homepage, you know things are rough.
President’s Day. Big whoop.
When we think of President’s Day, the names Abe and George usually come to mind. But in a poll conducted by Washington College of Maryland where Americans rank our greatest presidents, the names Lincoln, Reagan, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton, Bush and Washington top the list.
Yes, to repeat that, more Americans think Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are/were better presidents than George Washington himself.
Now, most of my fellow Red-staters hear such news and promptly begin the well-hashed criticisms of President Clinton. But today let’s talk about GW, the latter.
Upon election back in 2000, President Bush promised to be a uniter not a divider. To a large extent though, such an effort has been unsuccessful. U.S.-European ties are strained like never before, full of mistrust and concern.
But today President Bush is trying to change that, out touring Europe campaigning for trans-Atlantic unity. On Monday he was in Brussels, Tuesday in Germany and Wednesday in Slovakia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has spoken to most European leaders out there hoping to re-establish old alliances.
Now where was that spiel when we started the war? Instead it was the “you’re either with us or you’re against us” rhetoric. The end result, we pitted ourselves against our former European allies.
This week a British paper’s byline read, “Why is the White House bothering with this trip?”
A national newspaper even complained, “Americans under his leadership will do what we want, take what we want, pollute what we want, and invade whom we want.”
The president has certainly caught his fair share of flak, but at least he’s trying. At least he recognizes the need to go and mend old fences. But many continue to criticize the claimed hypocrisy of President Bush and the United States in general. Such pessimism runs rampant.
I have a professor who says pessimists are the only people in this world who are never disappointed. If things fail, that’s what they expected anyway. If things do work, well, you didn’t expect it, but, hey, it’s a pleasant surprise all the same.
I believe we live in a world full of pessimists. It is so much easier to criticize than it is to work toward fixing something. At the first sign of trouble, we are quick to bail, because we didn’t really believe it would work in the first place. The skyrocketing rate of divorce is a prime example.
And maybe that’s the trouble these days. Sure, pessimists are never disappointed, but they rarely accomplish anything either.
The world has too many color commentators out there and too few players out on the field willing to work and sacrifice.
And that is precisely what President Bush is doing. He has taken his fair share of well-deserved hits, but at least he keeps on playing.
All presidents have their detractors and supporters. Even George Washington was once called both complacent and suspect of treachery by Thomas Paine.
Thomas Jefferson described him quite to the contrary though in saying that “perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw doubt, but, when once decided, going through his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed.”
So kudos to George. Both of them. But does President Bush rank above George Washington on my list of preferred presidents? Umm . . . not a prayer.
Jon Cox is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to jcox@cc.usu.edu.