Bush should be given benefit of doubt before being written off

It’s the year 2001, and due to the efforts of our nation’s greatest president ever, Bill Clinton, the national debt has been paid, homeless shelters are empty, Americans no longer pay more than 40 percent of their income in taxes, unemployment no longer exists and justice has been restored to the government.

On the other hand, after only his first week in office, our new president, George W. Bush, has managed to repeal Roe vs. Wade, re-institute slavery, ban all immigration from Mexico, abolish women’s suffrage and start World War III.

Oh, and did I mention that the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, O.J. Simpson is innocent and JFK committed suicide?
If you don’t already get the point, I hereby grant you permission to discontinue reading this article.

But, for those less delusional who immediately recognized the obvious exaggerations and outright lies mentioned above, I would like to point out a few things. Throughout the past year and during the last two months, there has been an onslaught of unmerited attacks against the leadership abilities and, to a greater degree, the mental capabilities of our current president.

There has also been an incredible amount of undue praise given to our former president. (Disclaimer: I am not nor will I ever be a Republican).

The point I’m trying to make is that, as much of a crooked, lying, adulterous, dishonorable, sorry excuse for a leader I thought Clinton was, I can’t totally deny he did some good for this country. Likewise, as dumb, inarticulate and conservative as many would like to label Bush, I think we should at least give him a chance to prove or disprove himself worthy of the position he earned. So many of us were so quick to forgive Clinton for his mistakes but already cannot forgive Bush for the mistakes he hasn’t even made yet.

In the near future our president will be faced with crucial decisions concerning the military, the United Nations, the Middle East crisis, the present state of the economy, Supreme Court justice appointments, and so many other things. The most appropriate time for making damning judgments against our president would be sometime after he actually makes these decisions.

Maybe Bush is the dumbest thing ever to happen to America, or maybe he’ll prove to be (and I think he already has begun to) the exact opposite of all that we’ve expected.

John Sargent is a freshman computer science major from Fort Worth.
He can be reached at (j.w.sargent@student.tcu.edu).

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