A Speech

Nobody is perfect. And what I witnessed last night was not the most perfect speech in the world. But there's a small facet in the world of today called respect. And there was plenty of that lacking throughout this event. George W. Bush came to campus last night to discuss his newly released book, "Decision Points" as well as talk about time during his presidency. After listening to the small amount of time he actually was at the podium speaking, I was not very impressed with the material the man covered in his speech. However, it should not have been met with the protests, objections and comments made by the few attendees who didn't have the decency to call themselves adults. Three times last night...three times interruptions were made with disrespectful words and hand gestures raised to the guest speaker. I'm not going to sit here and give a lengthy diatribe on why or why not George W. Bush should be respected but I am going to say this. Someone in power, whether it be a president, a member of Congress, a secretary of state or even a police officer...these members of authority only have so much ability in their title to do the right thing at the time. And President Bush did exactly that.

A CBS News poll taken back in 2009 showed 36% of Americans wanted the President and Congress to focus most on Iraq with Afghanistan coming in at a strong second place with 35%. This specific poll showed an increasing concern with Afghanistan which is completely legitimate. However, it's safe to say a majority of Americans, back in 2001, were supportive of the decision to wage war against Al-Qaeda and those who brought on the September 11th attacks. That being said, to judge a president by a policy like this seems hypocritical. I'm not stating this war was anything close to successful as it could have been, if it even could have been. It was frustrating last night to see these Americans protesting outside the building and interrupting a distinguished guest for their chance to spout out some phrases they perceived would change the U.S. for the better. Reality check. It's not.

My main point I'm trying to make is that supportive or not, Populist or Libertarian, Democrat or Republican, this thing we call respect and consideration should not be left at security for someone we deem as unworthy of being granted it. He was never close to being the perfect president but when has any president ever been considered a flawless candidate?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-4848611-503544.html