Rules to live by after eight years of Bush

By Ben Childs

Painting President George W. Bush's eight years in office in a positive light requires more skill than I have as an artist.

If pressed to do so, however, I suppose I would just throw paint wildly on a canvas and call it something like "Financial Abyss" or "Misleading Train Wreck."

Modern art? I think so. More thought out than many of Bush's policies? Perhaps.

But, that's not very productive. I am not writing to assign a value to his administration's time in office, but to hopefully glean some general rules for both presidents and political consumers.

Rule #1: Don't write your president a blank check.

People were terribly afraid after 9/11. In their fear, many Americans, even Congress, essentially gave the Bush administration a mandate for action and carte blanche to implement it. The Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq all followed.

Violations of rights and liberties? Maybe.

Reckless military adventurism? Possibly.

But we were living in a post-9/11 world. Things were different, and we had to do what we had to do.

The economy has people scared in a similar fashion. Obama, like Bush after 9/11, appears to not only have a sweeping vision regarding the direction that America should go, but his followers seem ready to write him a similar check.

The New Deal be damned -- things are different now. After all, it's Barack!

But things are never really all that different. The blank check, when written, is almost always abused and always ushers in larger problems like runaway spending, military commitments and expanded bureaucracy that outlast the president's tenure.

Bush's check was expensive, and his doubling of the national debt, Orwellian policies and commitment to the war in Iraq will live on long after January 20, 2009.

Rule #2: Know your logical fallacies.

Many arguments lobbied against Bush were simply that: arguments against him as a person -- ad hominem.

Why care about what a policy actually does when the president just gave you another entertaining Bushism? Better update your Bushism blog, because, hey, what a dummy!

Similarly, when people defended him, they often fell prey to the good old "he said it" defense. You must be wrong, sir or madam, because Bush is my man. He'll put a boot up your ass -- you know that, right?

Both sides are to blame in this. Just as much as Bush's criticism and defense was often unproductive, valid arguments were often dismissed because those that weren't in agreement with Bush were labeled terrorists, unpatriotic and unsupportive of our troops.

Just because George "he shoots from the hip" Bush or Barack "you can put his words to music" Obama said something doesn't necessarily make it true. Nor does it make it false.

I'm not saying that conservative talking heads and liberal hippies should sit around and hold hands. It's just that neither of these groups are wrong because they're "doo-doo heads."

We've had eight years of that type of name-calling. I don't care how many Republicans or Democrats it takes to screw in a light bulb. Let's cut it out and grow up.

Rule #3: Listen to a variety of experts.

Bush's unbending determination to stay the course was not only touted as thoughtful leadership, but even considered heroic. But, historically, many heroes have died so that opposing viewpoints could be shared freely and publicly in this country.

There is something to be said about having strong beliefs, but there is something greater to be said for the benefits of the first amendment.

An administration cannot know everything.

Nor should we expect, or even hope, that they should. In the future however, we should all expect that our president, no matter how large their vision, accepts valid scrutiny.

This rule applies to us, the political consumer, as well. Bush surrounded himself with people that agreed with him and listened to sources that supported what he already thought was true.

Have you done the same?

In the next three days, if you don't come across at least one article or viewpoint about Obama that differs from your opinion, regardless of how you voted, it's time to seek one out.

Perhaps, if Bush's presidency has taught us anything, it is what happens when you think that your beliefs are so lofty that they are above reproach. When this occurs, constructive deliberation becomes irrelevant.

Eight years ago, things were confusing and we wanted action, much like we do now.

Looking at Bush's presidency, perhaps the final rule is this: Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

Ben Childs is a senior English major.