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No one has more influence on our lives than those officials we elect to govern us, pass our laws and administer them. From the member of the school board to the mayor to the governor, each are important. At the top of the list of elective officials in America, of course, is the President of the United States. What the president does or doesn’t do has an impact that reaches from the fixing of the pothole in the street in front of your house by allotting money to the depths of jungles in Africa or the halls of parliament in Japan. He can mean the difference in prosperity or depression, in war or in peace. Herbert Hoover was the lame duck president when I was born. All I knew of him was hearing him blamed for the Great Depression. My father had to leave home to work on Civilian Construction Corps camps. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president of my early years. He saw the country come out of the Depression and told us the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor to start a world war. His reassuring words at “fireside chats” eased our fears during dark days. Grown men, included a radio commentator named Arthur Godfrey, cried openly when he died. Harry Truman took the helm and dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan to end the war. He was there a few years later when America fought Communism in Korea. Feisty “Give em Hell” Harry took the heat when he fired America’s hero Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Dwight Eisenhower was a colorful general but a lackluster president. He did bring Korea to a close. Jack Kennedy had charisma and good judgment in picking his staff. When the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted, he had the courage to face Nikita Krushchev and not blink. An assassin’s bullet prevented history from seeing if he would reach the greatness expected of him. Lyndon Johnson brought the skills of a country schoolteacher and a brilliant politician to the White House. He will be best remembered as a champion of Civil Rights. His escalating of the Vietnam War, kindled during Eisenhower’s reign and advanced with Kennedy, brought the nation into political turmoil. After a failed attempt at the presidency against Kennedy, Richard Nixon made it, with Vietnam in flames. Rightly or wrongly in his methods, he did bring it to a close. Despite his love of a dram of Scotch, he made great strides in foreign diplomacy. Like many who gain too much power they can’t handle, he began to feel he was above the law and was brought down by lying over a cheap political burglary. Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were both nicer guys than they were presidents. Carter acted more like a preacher than a leader when the Iranians took Americans hostage. Ronald Reagan rode in like the Lone Ranger to see the release of hostages and make Americans feel good about themselves. He may have slept through briefings but he did put enough pressure on Russia to see Communism begin to fall of its own failures. Americans so loved him they overlooked Iran-Contra scandals and lapses of memory. No president ever went into the White House more qualified than did George H.W. Bush. Navy veteran, congressman, government executive, vice president, he had paid his dues. Without a sparkling personality, he had the courage and wisdom to lead the United Nations against Iraq and kick them out of Kuwait. Despite critics who wanted him to destroy Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military, he knew when to stop. A destroyed Iraq would have ended the balance of power between that country and Iran, which would have moved in and absorbed their neighbor. He lost reelection to Bill Clinton who quickly was tagged a draft dodger and a snake oil salesman. But he acted more like a Republican in fiscal matters. In his two terms the national surplus reaching new heights. The balance of a Republican congress and a Democratic president proved effective. When a peevish congress, which couldn’t outsmart him, resorted to impeachment following a sexual affair, Americans took a new look at him decided they liked him. Despite not getting a majority of the votes and controversy over the counting, George W. Bush was given the White House by a decision from a mostly Republican Supreme Court. He proceeded to eliminate the treasury surplus and start America toward an unprecedented deficit pushing $10-trillion. Less tough talk and more diplomacy would have helped calm the growing hatred of the Islamic world toward America. When a group of terrorists led by Osama bin Laden destroyed the World Trade Center, he was unable to find the leader, but Saddam Hussein was there. Neither the United Nations nor our NATO allies signed on for a proposed invasion of Iraq. Bush announced he would do it without them. A congress bought false information without questioning the danger of Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction.” They backed him up. It would take an Alice in Wonderland to believe the Iraqi people used to iron rule would welcome foreign invasion. Bush made Clinton look like an amateur when he comes to selling an idea to the people. Three years after the invasion, which underwent many mottos from Iraqi Freedom to War on Terrorism, there have been hundreds of American military people killed, many more maimed. Nearly half a million civilians have lost their lives. Terrorism, instead of being snuffed out, has spread like a wildfire. The administration talks of “victory” without saying what victory would be. The country is clearly not ready for Democracy and freedom of religion. No foreign government can force them to like it. American military leaders on the ground say the country is near civil war. America, once considered a stable force in the world, is regarded by many as a cowboy nation with atomic power that isn’t above using its power. No president has changed the world as much as George W. Bush. Give him credit, though. He is honest with one statement he made. Future presidents will have to solve the problem of Iraq. We must wonder how many future presidents it will take to correct all the problems he will leave behind.
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