Like many, I watched the inauguration today with great interest. I’ve made no bones about the fact that I didn’t support Senator Obama, was not happy with his win and am not looking forward to the next four years politically. That being said, I thought his speech today was very well done. I expected the hidden/veiled attacks on the previous administration so I was not surprised nor disappointed with some of the statements made. I was impressed with several of the statements, especially those promoting the rights of all American citizens. I only hope that over the next two weeks, the term American citizen can be defined to include unborn citizens as well. During the proceedings though, I was struck by something a friend of mine said. Discussing President Bush, it was mentioned that he was too aggressive in maintaining the war on terror and that his legacy will be forever tarnished by it.

If I didn’t love this person dearly, I might have reacted quite negatively to this type of comment. When President Bush took office, his mandate from the American people was clear; we want a leader with integrity, and we want to feel secure again. Most of the policies on his plate were domestic in nature. He understood there was an immigration crisis, he knew the military needed to be revamped, he knew that big government had invaded too much of our private lives and he set out to correct those things with a 5 year initiative. Then September 11th happened and we all watched as a single man stood in a pulpit and with a single speech put the weight of this entire country on his shoulders. I have never, ever been so proud of any leader, possibly any man, before or since. Later, I watched as all of our elected representatives and congressmen stood on those steps and pledged allegiance to our flag, and sung the National Anthem and swore to get those responsible for attacking our sovereign nation.

Since then, many have stated that they didn’t realize how long and difficult this war was going to be, even though President Bush warned them that there was no end in sight and that it would possibly have no end. Others have been replaced by new politicians who claim that they never supported the war in the first place and that they never would have stood on those steps if they had been in office at the time. Finally, we have those who have just ‘changed their mind’; saying they don’t think fighting this war is the right thing to do anymore. The press has been no better. They supported the war while their ratings were up but it soon became apparent that the only way to get the ratings they wanted was to be controversial. Controversial meant attacking every move President Bush made, broadcasting troop locations and movements and then publicly questioning why things were going so badly (their definition, not the military’s and not the Commander In Chief’s).

Behind all of this, one person remained firm. One person stuck to his guns. One person was John Wayne, frightened to death but getting in that saddle anyway. One person was resolute. One person was a leader. Damned be the press, damned be his approval rating, and damned be his critics. They did not know what he knew, they did not swear an oath, they did not promise the American people, he did and he stood by that promise through thick and thin.

God bless you President Bush! I wish you peaceful days ahead with Laura and the girls. I’m two weeks behind you to Texas and good Lord willing, I hope to one day meet you in person and thank you for every single minute of all 8 years of your presidency.