I've been thinking a lot about the 1992 election of late. Probably everyone who knows me has heard this story - that November night (I'd voted via absentee ballot days before) a friend of mine threw a big party. About fifty of us crammed into a dorm room that might have comfortably fit ten. The host (who could afford it) had a keg of Corona in the shower. We watched the election returns in a spirit of immense jubilation that had nothing to do with the beer - we believed that this was right, this was good, and that we were headed into a golden age.
What strikes me now is that while none of us (at least openly) had supported George H.W. Bush, none of us doubted that he would give 110% to running the country, down to the very last moments, regardless of what happened. I'd argue that he did. It's od to be sentimental about the GHWB days -
I do not have the same faith in GWB. I think he's been treading water for a while now, and I firmly believe that the nation, in large part, has let him get away with it.
Not for the first time, I am struck by my next door neighbors. They are good, kind, decent, caring people, and they genuinely believe that GWB is and has been doing a terrific job. Yesterday one of them said he's even better than Reagan. It might be easier to understand them if I still had a bit of that Corona, but I've got to try. To borrow a line from 1776 "Either we all walk together, or together we stay where we are."
Enough of politics.
P.S. I confess to having blown off a paper so that I could attend that party, but I did stay up late and I did get it in, and I did earn an A, and it actually stands up as not too bad to my teacher eyes years later. Was it the Corona? Clinton? Panic? I'll never know.
4 comments:
"They are good, kind, decent, caring people, and they genuinely believe that GWB is and has been doing a terrific job. Yesterday one of them said he's even better than Reagan"
And when did you stop laughing?
Re your neighbors believing GWB has been doing a terrific job . . .
Maybe the reason they still support him is because not to would be an admission that they have been totally WRONG in all of their prior thoughts/actions. Meaning: they’ve been duped and are too embarrassed to admit it.
Looking on the bright side: Bush made Obama possible, so he isn't a total miserable failure!
The neighbours are presumably called George H. and Barbara Bush?
I'm in agreement with you. I believed that H would give everything to running this country. I didn't think Clinton would, and after a rocky start, he proved me wrong and he ran the country with passion. And, for about 30 seconds, I thought W might too...
Instead, he squandered the goodwill of the world post-911. He doesn't work hard and he doesn't seem to care.
I'm glad that he didn't show his face at the convention. He has made me feel ashamed to have voted for him.
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