I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting sick and tired of all of the snide and disrespectful attacks on President Bush. He is an American citizen and was elected into office by a majority of his fellow citizens.
It's easy to take pot shots from the cheap seats when we don't have go toe-to-toe with the leaders of foreign countries who like nothing better than to run us through with a machete.
His job requires that he must sit down to dinner with people who not only hate his country but are sometimes blatantly open about their plan to destroy it. His every move, every hair out of place, every word is scrutinized with cruel judgment and sometimes twisted into erroneous motives.
How is it so easy for us to judge whether he is making the right or wrong decisions? We don't even have all of the facts. We simply have what we're told by second and third hand witnesses. And do they even have all of the facts? I think not.
We can't possibly know everything. If we did, then our enemies would know everything as well. In that case, our country would be mowed down like crab grass. I can't even fathom the pressures and sleepless nights that he and his family endure. No matter what he does, it's going to tick someone off.
We've had worse presidents, we've had better presidents. Does it matter? George W. Bush is the President of our United States of America. No matter what you think of him personally (that is, if you know him personally), his position in office should be respected.
Therefore, he should be respected and treated with the kind of reverence that we would want other counties to feel for the American People.
Other countries haven't made a joke of the United States government. Other countries weren't the first to disrespect the American way of life or to abuse our freedoms. Other countries have simply watched our attitude and followed suit. Even a next-door neighbor makes decisions about your family by what he sees in your treatment of each other. If you want people to respect you and your family, then you'd better respect it, yourself.
This goes for your country, as well.
Lee Ryan Crawford
Des Moines
