Thanks For The Memories, George......I Wish I could Say It's Been Fun.By Eric 'Renderking' Fisk - January 28th, 2008
This is Good-Bye for George W. Bush's State Of The Union Speeches, and I have just a few comments to make since I've seen all the others since his first one after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. The first for me will always the best since he said what we needed to hear, that this "This Union is Strong." We needed to hear about how America will strike back, that his is our Generation's Pearl Harbor and those who will fight this war will be The Next "Greatest Generation." We will over-come many hardships, suffer losses and celebrate victories leading up to when we will eventually capture or kill Osama Bin Laden - the mastermind of the Terrorist Attacks. So, the obvious question is this: Where is he? Where is Bin Laden? It's been how many years? More then five years have passed since we started searching for him in earnest and there's no sign yet that we'll capture him any time soon. We've essentially given up. The location of Osama Bin Laden and our resolve to hunt him down until captured or killed was the biggest thing missing from this President's final State Of The Union Address. And I wonder why more people didn't bring that up. I was watching Brian Williams interview Presidential Hopeful's Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and neither of them mentioned anything about this. Am I the only one who cares about this issue? I don't want to hear only about our successes in Iraq, or how we're making progress in areas around that country we invaded. I don't want this President to read off a teleprompter about how Iraq is more secure and we're doing a good thing over there by bringing hope and democracy to a region of the world that suffered for decades under the dictator who made his people live in terror and fear while he pitted Cold War rivals against each other before playing hide and seek games with United Nations weapons inspectors. I don't want to hear only about how Al-Qaeda is on the run and can't call Iraq a safe haven or home, or that it's better to fight them over there then fight them over here. I don't want to hear about how we thwarted other attacks that were similar in tactics and scope of September 11th, 2001. That's great that we prevented terrorists from flying jets into buildings in other cities. Hooray for The Good Guys, another goal for us to put on the score-board. It's important that we know that our sacrifices of blood and treasure are baring good results and that's not insignificant. But all of that is just political rhetoric while we ignore the real fact that a man who's replaced Adolph Hitler as man-kinds greatest thread to peace is still drawing breath while making plans for the next "September 11th." George W. Bush's speech about all of our accomplishments really sounds more like me when I'm caught by my wife after doing something stupid like leaving the trunk to the car open all night or forgetting to put the lid down on the toilet. "Quick!" my brain yells, "Change the subject and maybe she'll forget!" My mouth responds by saying: "Honey, I think we should do something special for dinner, I'm thinking of making something 'South Western.' I need to get some more flowers and maybe some wine to show how much I love you." ... But with Dubya - a man I supported and voted for twice - is a little more dangerous. "Oh, crap!" His brain says, "We forget to get Bin Laden! Quick! Say something that'll get the American People's mind off this!" His mouth responds: "My fellow Americans, we need to do more to remove our over-dependency on Foreign Oil, so we're going to make it easier for Scientists to discover new ways to make renewable energy a reality."
... Seriously, I think most of the people in our country is just as smart as my wife and sees right through this. Osama Bin Laden is more then a figure head, Al-Qaeda will ever be truly gone as long as he's able to inspire others to "jihad against the great Satan." Nobody will ever feel victory in Iraq or Afghanistan as long as he's alive. The American People aren't stupid, and to some extent I'm just doing my job in articulating the obvious and saying what I hope everyone's thinking - our eyes are off the ball. Where is he, George? Where's the man who was described by you as being this biggest threat to World Peace? What happened to your promises that Osama will be captured or killed before you leave office? Or did I only imagine your solemn oath? Your words, not mine... you said "solemn oath." Unless something really disastrous happens, this was George W. Bush's last State Of The Union Speech. And I can't say that I'm all that sad to see him go. This is when he was his most polished and rehearsed, and this time he was more bi-partisan and almost more optimistic. But there was a lot missing in this speech besides what I just mentioned. I needed and expected more and I'm sick of being disappointed. Now I'm wondering what the next State Of The Union Speech will sound like and what it's tone will be. I wonder who'll be giving it. I won't make any predictions but this one - nobody in the United States will feel secure until Bin Laden is captured. The best speech writer can write words that are articulate enough to erase that concern from our minds. The next words I expect to hear from the future President is this: "We got him!" I demand to hear those words soon, but I fear I'll be disappointed again after The State Of The Union Speech in 2009. |
In
about 12 months I'll be writing the Obituary for George W. Bush's Two Terms in
Office. It'll be an interesting read for everyone including myself - I have an
idea of what I'll say but the final product is still a mystery because
anything's possible and history hasn't written itself for 2008.
