What is it about Lame Duck presidents of these United States that makes them try to broker peace in the Middle East during their last year in office.
I remember my brother being all upset because Bill Clinton was doing it at the last minute, and now it looks like GWBush is trying to do the same thing, again at the last minute.
Why?
Wouldn't it make more sense to start trying to broker peace at the beginning of a term when the new president has four more years to work on it? I mean the unrest has been going on for a jillion years. It dates way back to the Old Testament Bible times.
And the American President has the cajones to think he can fix it in less than a year?
Ha! it's going to take more than a generation to repair all the damage done by the current administration alone, much less the damage done by hatred for thousands of years.
Don't misread this. I'm all for peace in the Middle East. I'm for peace everywhere. But it irritates me that after the bully in the white house stirred up the hornets nest for 6 years, he is going to give lip service to "peace" so when he leaves office he can say he tried.
My big brother surprised me a few days ago when he said he wished Bush were running for office again in 2008 so he could vote against him. So it's not just me.
3 Comments
I'd have to say that they are thinking about their legacy. They are about to join a very exclusive club: former presidents. Looking back over time, each president is usually associated with one or two major accomplishments: FDR had the New Deal and WWII, JFK had NASA and the Peace Corp, Teddy Roosevelt had the Rough Riders and the National Park System.
Of course, there is the other side, too: Nixon had Watergate, LBJ had the Vietnam War, Herbert Hoover had the Great Depression.
So, with the last year of the term left, the invariably have to ponder what will be associated with their presidency. For Clinton, remember he was just coming out of that impeachment thing – not exactly something he'd want to be remembered by. For Dubya, well, I can't think of any president who has more scandals. He's probably counting on the short attention span of Americans. If he can broker some sort of peace deal, then that is what he could be remembered by. If he's dreaming, he may as well ask for a pony.
Of course, living in the Information Age, we have access to far more dirt than ever before. Plus, there will never be a shortage of talking heads to remind us. Still, it doesn't stop the out-going presidents from trying.
I thought rough rider was a brand of condom…
i think it was an experiment to do something with leftover, fine-grained sandpaper. Perfect for exfoliating those hard to reach places.