Farewell to George W. Bush - by Jane Chastain

By Jane Chastain © 2009 WorldNetDaily No one is perfect. That is true for your spouse, your children, your mom and (look in the mirror) even yourself. While we readily recognize and accept the flaws and frailties of those closest to us, somehow we expect that the person we elect to be president of the United States will live up to all our grandiose expectations and we are shocked when we discover that he is a mere mortal. That said, I say goodbye to President George W. Bush with a lot of mixed emotions. To be honest, I didn't expect a lot from this man. He had run two companies into the ground and road his father's coattails to become governor of the state of Texas. Surely, the country could do better! I was pleasantly surprised on many levels. The 2000 election was so close that Bush literally backed into the presidency without the usual amount of time one needs to assume the office with a team in place. Nevertheless, he was tested on 9-11-2001, as no other American president has been, and he met that test head-on, with strength and resolve. Nineteen days later, one day after Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that new terrorist attacks may be planned for the country in the coming week, President Bush showed unusual courage when he made good on his promise to throw out the first pitch of Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York. The country was gripped with fear. We had battened down the hatches. Travel plans were cancelled and shopping trips minimized. I will never forget the night of Oct. 30, 2001, when Mr. Bush, wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with "FDNY," in honor of the New York City Fire Department, strolled resolutely to the pitcher's mound. Yes, security was tight, but he was alone under the glaring lights, before a sellout crowd of more than 57,000 people, an easy target. How many presidents would have done that? Most would have stayed behind layers of security in the bunker. Bush, looking small and vulnerable scanned the upper decks. He paused and smiled and gave a big "thumbs-up" sign to reassure the crowd, before throwing a strike. Then, he walked off the mound to chants of "USA, USA" and the country slowly got back to normal. [Continue reading]

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