Thursday, January 22, 2009

Farewell Mr Bush

Farewell Mr Bush and apologies for our new President's insensitivity and lack of tact. I'm a left wing liberal Democrat but I winced at some of his lines directed your way. Oh no, I can hear my former colleagues and friends utter, she's gone soft in her old age. No, I haven't, honestly. I just think there is a time and place for strong criticism and it isn't in front of someone's proud family when that someone has a foot out the door anyway.

Not since FDR, according to David Sanger of the New York Times, has an incoming President so directly criticized his predecessor in an inaugural address. There is a precedent for grace under these circumstances. President Obama did display grace by escorting the former President and his wife to the helicopter, and he did thank him for his service. I actually didn't mind some of the harshest lines like, "restore science to its rightful place." Even the bit about "our collective failure to make hard choices" I felt was as much a criticism of our legislators as our former President and perhaps had a place in the speech. But I was embarrassed by the "ready to lead once more" remark as well as a certain negative tone.

Do I think George W. Bush was a great president? Am I prepared to defend his decisions while in office and carry on about his well noted graciousness upon leaving. Not at all. However, call me old fashioned but I do think there is a respect for the office that should be observed during historical moments like inaugurations. Besides which, I think it distracted from an otherwise careful speech and message of hope.

Unfortunately, these will be the phrases people remember, along with "false the choice between our safety and our ideals." I was disappointed in our new President who has a well deserved reputation of a master of words. I wanted to hear a strong message of change and hope. Something that would ring in our collected minds and hold him to a promise. I think the President's actions on his first day in office were enough to say loudly and clearly that his administration was rejecting decisions made by the former administration, without having to resort to harsh rhetoric. I'm proud of his decisions to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and to halt the practice of torturing prisoners. Those decisions and the flurry of other orders he made in the first day or two are the reason I and so many voted for him. As it turns out the candidate who many criticized as being all speech and no substance, were wrong.

Caroline Kennedy

Caroline Kennedy appears with her cousin Maria Shriver in our loop on Clan Kennedy. Caroline Kennedy, who stunningly quit her push for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, is dealing with a "tax problem and a potential nanny issue," a source close to Gov. Caroline Kennedy's brief political career ended Wednesday night as abruptly as it began after she withdrew her bid to replace Sen. Caroline Kennedy met in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Sunday with a group of key black lawmakers who came away "impressed" with the U. Caroline Kennedy had her much-anticipated formal interview with Gov. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg waits for the start of the third presidential debate in the David S. Caroline Kennedy's decision to remove herself from consideration to fill New York's vacant U. Caroline Kennedy's children also played in the playhouse when they were youngsters. Caroline Kennedy serves as the vice chair of the Fund for Public Schools, as the president of the John F. Caroline KennedyA new poll out of New York shows that a majority now hopes Gov.

Kennedy
Kennedy graduated from Radcliffe College and worked at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she met her future husband, exhibit designer Edwin Schlossberg. Kennedy's professional life h as spanned law and politics as well as education and charitable work. Kennedy was born in New York City and is named after her maternal aunt Caroline Lee Radziwill and a maternal great-grandmother. Kennedy in a widely publicized ceremony in Newport News, Virginia. Kennedy's matron of honor was her cousin Maria Shriver. Kennedy is an attorney, writer, and editor and serves on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations. Kennedy and other members of her family created the Profile in Courage Award in 1989. Kennedy has represented her family at the funeral services of former presidents Ronald Reagan in 2004 and Gerald Ford in 2007, and at the funeral service of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson in 2007. Kennedy addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, introducing a tribute film about her uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy. Kennedy from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968, when he was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Kennedy's own description of her reasons for withdrawing. Kennedy has stated that she believes that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital city of Israel. Kennedy said backing Obama was about "the future of our party, and it's the future of our country. Kennedy had announced that she is pursuing Hillary Clinton's U. Kennedy registered to vote in New York in 1988. Kennedy Library Foundation, and is a member of the John F. Kennedy does, of course, lend class and pedigree to the committee.