Hehe yeah Kieren, I know... that analogy was in poor taste... said so when I wrote it. For some reason I wanted to you use the subject of guns, (seems people can relate to that), and I've heard almost that exact same analogy several times in those debates. But yah, I coulda picked a thousand different subjects to base it on, and I really shoulda.
Anyways, back to the subject at hand. I'm not saying that a backlash will happen, nor should it, or even that Bush will be a failure as a President. It's just that... how many times can one listen to a sitting President being completely lambasted, over and over and over...
Partisanship is a fact of life in US politics. Yes. But it's many people's strong belief that the extent of this attack on Clinton was completely, *completely*, over the top. Unprecedented and damaging. I said before that it was akin to poison... and as a result, we drank from that well. Hell, we lapped it up.
Thus, we've lost respect in the Presidency itself, we hurl insults just as a first instinct, we are cynical to the point where it is laughable to even hold the opinion that some of these politicians actually might have the best interests of their country at heart, that there are some out there who actually just try to do the right thing.
Maybe that's a good thing though? Maybe we're now uhm... more informed, less naive. Perhaps it's better to be guarded and distrustful, lest we get disappointed again. A nation that yeah, may be bitter, but at least now not ignorant!
I don't think so. It was hurtful what they did. It terms of damage to a nation's soul, it ranks up there with Vietnam.
So now the shoe is on the other foot. The Republicans are in office. It is time for the nation to come together, to put our differences behind us, to move forward and do the people's business. A time for hope and renewal. Well that's all very fine and good.
The problem here, is that not *only* are some people gnashing their teeth at a chance to get Vengence for the past 8 years... But we've now got a nation so bitterly divided, so raised on this hateful rhetoric, that it is impossible to think that one can simply reach over and turn off the valve. It's like when the Sex Pistols came out and attacked the Queen of England, or that very fist time you swore at your girlfriend. Something shifts; changes. And it's impossible to go back.
I know you disagree, but what the Republicans did in the 90's was *far* more damaging than anything Clinton could have done. It wasn't Bush's fault - he just inherited this house... but coupled with the fact that many people are not even recognizing this man's legitimacy as even *being* the President, he's gonna need all the luck he can get.
[This message has been edited by Nash (edited 12-14-2000).]
