Old News Revisited

**BREAKING NEWS - Bush approval rating at 28% ***

In the recent past, I have tried compiling a list of ideas or notable topics for discussion. When inspiration finds you, you better make note of it! There are times when I start writing about the topic immediately, and times when I let the idea germinate in my mind (or in print) before I actually give birth to it. There are also times when I have something important to mention that simply gets pushed to the side for other topics. This happens a lot with items "in the news". Sometimes, better late than never!

So here's a thought from the "better late than never" category.

I've heard of "approval ratings" in politics, but I'd never heard of "disapproval ratings". It's kind of a strange spin on things - establishing what percentage of the population don't approve of your work! Perhaps this is what we have to resort to these days, when it's easier to count those that don't approve of what you're doing as opposed to those who do.

It's been about a month or so ago (maybe a little longer), but here's an interesting political statistic. President Bush's disapproval rating is the highest for any president since the 1930's. It stands at 68% ... so for every 10 people on the street, only 3 will approval of his presidency right now.

(Update: As of 7/15/2008, his approval rating stands at 28% - mighty fine statistics if you ask me).

That puts him in good company - with Truman (67%) and Nixon (66%). Lest we forget, Truman brought nuclear weapons to World War Two. Nixon faced impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives for the Watergate scandal.

See any trends here? Weapons and scandal. Hmmm.

President Bush's legacy will include the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In hindsight, we now find that it was all built on a shoddy foundation of lies and half-truths that were magnified by the media and the fear of 9/11. And as for scandal ... where should we begin?

Look back in history and look for leaders that have ruled with fear as their number one ally. Yes, you'll find quite a few of them - of this I have no doubt.

If you have just 32% of the population approving your work, then it really makes you wonder about the phrase "by the people, for the people". Although eight years will officially be over in January 2009, let's keep these things in mind in November 2008 when we lay the foundation for the next Presidency and (hopefully) a return to worldwide respect and admiration that is deserving of this fine country and all of it's citizens.