Stop blaming the president!

@katran (585)
United States
January 21, 2009 5:16pm CST
I am pretty tired of hearing people blame the president (namely Bush in this case) for all the troubles of the world. Anyone who had taken even the slightest little bit of government in high school should know that the president has very little power to influence the things that they blame him for. For example, the big fad nowadays is to blame Bush for the bad economy. Not only is that dumb from a governmental standpoint, but it is also dumb from an economic standpoint. First of all, Bush and every other president does not hold the purse strings in any way, shape, or form. He has absolutely no control over government money, how it is spent, or anything of the sort. I suppose he could do for the budget what Clinton did and refuse to approve it until it meets his standards, but then he would just get criticized for halting the progress of politics or something retarded like that. Second of all, let us just think back to the Great Depression for a moment here. One of our nations greatest presidents in a lot of people's opinion, Franklin D. Roosevelt, tried hundreds of different things to try to combat and reverse the Depression. The fact of the matter was, however, that the most any of his policies really did was give people some hope. They did not fix the situation at all. In fact, who knows how this country would have ended up if WWII did not come along and jump start the economy. If the great Roosevelt couldn't fix the depression, what makes you think that Bush or anyone else could do something similar? My point is, Washington rests on the shoulder of FIRST, the people, SECOND, congress, and THIRD, hundreds of other government employees who take the greatest burden of the work. If you feel like you have to point a finger (and this will also go for those who point the finger at Obama if he messes anything up in the future), point it first at yourself and then at your Congressmen. Then open a history book or a government book and figure out how the government is REALLY run. THEN you can consider who else you may want to gripe at.
4 responses
• United States
21 Jan 09
I agree with this completely. Any slightly educated person should know that the President has very limited power when it comes to the economy. Look at the senate and the house of representatives they are really the ones who have messed up the economy. Blaming Bush (even though I am not a big fan) is completely pointless and it is not even his fault. The president can not be blamed for a faulty economy one because he does not have the power to control the economy, and two because there are so many other factors going into the falling of an economy. So do not blame Bush or Obama when things keep going bad if they do, look at the lazy and incompetent people you have elected into the house and the senate, then blame yourself for voting on these people.
• United States
21 Jan 09
I think this was one of the reasons people were able to overlook McCains crazy ideals on domestic policy. They knew if wouldn't happen. On the other had when it came to international politics (where the pres. does have greater influece) he was a lot stronger.
@newtondak (3946)
• United States
22 Jan 09
At some points in Bush's term, he had over a 90% approval rate - isn't it interesting how people can turn on someone so fast - someone that they supported just recently!
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
22 Jan 09
Yeah, you'd think they'd know this, but most don't. Other than those executive orders that a president can do and hardly anyone ever knows about...he isn't totally in charge of this country! Throw in the fact that no matter who is president, there will always be 2 sides to everything ever done, YOu can please all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can't please all the people all the time! Ergo the democratic way.
@newtondak (3946)
• United States
22 Jan 09
You make an interesting point regarding WWII jump-starting the economy after the depression. The major reason for this was that so many men were drafted to serve or enlisted that there were a lot less people vying for the few jobs that were available. This same reasoning needs to be in our minds regarding those fighting in Iraq - at some point, they will all come home and will need employment outside the armed forces. In these times of record unemployment, this will certainly pose a problem.