{"id":433,"date":"2008-10-25T05:49:06","date_gmt":"2008-10-25T05:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/10\/evaluating-republican-rule.html"},"modified":"2008-10-25T05:49:06","modified_gmt":"2008-10-25T05:49:06","slug":"evaluating-republican-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/10\/evaluating-republican-rule.html","title":{"rendered":"Evaluating Republican rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barack Obama was asked the other day about any direct criticisms he would make about the presidency of George W. Bush. Sen. Obama was, for the mild-mannered and studied man that he has portrayed himself as being, remarkably forceful in his denunciation of the Bush Administration.
\nAsked to list any complaints he had about the Republican president, Mr. Obama said…
\n“Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government, larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America, owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously.”
\nObama also rejected Mr. Bush’s use of issuing “signing statements” when he signs bills into law, in which the president has suggested that he would ignore elements of the bills, labeling them potentially unconstitutional.
\n“I would veto the bills or say, ‘Look, I don’t like it but I’ll obey the law that’s passed by Congress and signed by the president.’ I think the signing statements was not a correct implementation of the power of the executive. I think it was overstepping.”
\nAnd Mr. Obama emphatically rejected Mr. Bush’s claims of executive privilege, often used to shield the White House from scrutiny.
\n“I don’t agree with that either,” he said. “I don’t agree with [Vice President] Dick Cheney’s allegation that he’s part of both the legislative and the executive branch.”
\nObama concluded by saying that Bush lacked the resolve of President Reagan.
\nOh, wait…WAIT. Oh, I’m so SORRY! I got my candidates mixed UP! Oh, gosh, please FORGIVE ME…<\/strong>
\nThose words were all spoken by JOHN McCAIN<\/strong> two days ago in an interview with The Washington Times<\/em>. Yeah, he was speaking aboard his campaign plane en route from New Hampshire to Ohio.
\nOh, gosh…yes, that’s right<\/em>! It was John McCain<\/em> who said those things!!! Check it out. It’s all over the Internet! How could I ever have gotten so confused!??
\nAnd what does John McCain suggest might be the solution to the eight-year disaster that has been the Republican Administration? Why, of course…elect another Republican Administration!<\/em> Now why didn’t I <\/em>think of that! Forgive me.
\nOh, and please forgive Sarah Palin, too, for her little mistake. The other day she was describing the role of the Vice President. She said that part of the vice president’s job is to “be in charge of the U.S. Senate, so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes.”
\nUh, wow, gosh, does that sound like, uh, a person we want to be one heartbeat away from the presidency? Or does that sound more like the answer of a high school sophomore in civics class? The wrong<\/em> answer, by the way. Sorry, Ms. Palin, you fail. That is not<\/em> part of the Vice President’s job. The vice president is not in charge of the U.S. Senate.
\nWhew. Wow. These are really great candidates, aren’t they? Sure glad I’m a Republican! (And what Ms. Palin calls a “real American.”) Yup, sure am glad. You betcha.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barack Obama was asked the other day about any direct criticisms he would make about the presidency of George W. Bush. Sen. Obama was, for the mild-mannered and studied man that he has portrayed himself as being, remarkably forceful in his denunciation of the Bush Administration. 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