Unapologetic and Shameless

At first I thought that the lack of connection between Saddam and al Quaeda was old news, but then Bush continues to make up a story about it. Bush's Iraq failures are massive, and yet he continues to blame everyone else. Even retired military officials, who normally avoid public political statements, are speaking out.

Voting for Bush is an endorsement of his failures. Whatever course President Kerry follows, it will not be a radical shift of policy (Democrats in this day and age, after all, want to be the new Republicans). A "regime change," however, will allow us to conduct the national debate we should have had before the war. Bush is unrepentent. He should take that attitude straight back to Texas. There has been much talk lately about how Reagan made America feel good again about itself, and W, wants to assume the same mantle. Leaving Reagan's legacy aside, is G.W. Bush really the guy we'd want to make us feel good?

America is the world's only superpower: we are the only nation with both global power and global reach. I'm a patriot and I'm proud of what our nation has achieved. I served in our military and I love what our military can accomplish. However, I would actually prefer to live in a country that accepts that awesome responsiblity with humility and caution; a country that perhaps expresses a little self-doubt before it acts rather than a country that follows an emotional course of action and then rallies unrepentently around it's mistakes. When you have true power, you don't have to constantly prove it. If you have the authority to discipline someone at work, for example, you can afford to be gracious in it's execution -- humilitating or embarrassing your subordinate is an unnecessary personal indulgence. Understanding that difference is called leadership, and that's something that the Bush administration is never going to get.

Believe.