Right before President-elect Obama is sworn in, I feel the urge to compose a lasting reminder of my thoughts on the Bush Presidency.

From the start, I did not feel that the 2000 election was a legitimate event in the sense that there were a lot of voting problems in the election shameful state of Florida. The election process had so many problems that I felt immediately that we needed a revote. But with the disputable involvement of the Supreme Court as well as questionable legal tactics by Al Gore’s lawyer team, Governor Bush became the next President of the United States.

September 11th was a tragedy on my state, and one of the most memorable events in the Bush Presidency was his call for unity. It was much needed comfort for me.

But the comfort did not last long as President Bush announced his decision to invade Afghanistan. I was opposed to any unilateral invasion of another country (Although Afghanistan, then and now, isn’t really a unified country), and instead I was for a United Nations sponsored invasion. But the United States invaded any way.

Anger formed as President Bush announced his decision to invade Iraq. My social studies teacher told me this crucial fact: Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein’s ideologies are polar opposites. I opposed the war from the beginning, because the initial reason and all other subsequent reasons were not sufficient in justifying the invasion. If President Bush truly felt the need for the invasion, he could have at least legitimized it by asking the United Nations to send troops in the region, but alas we just had some pseudo international coalition helping the efforts.

Where is the weapon of mass destruction? The topic changes to the capability of using weapons of mass destruction. With that same logic, shouldn’t we invade other countries, such as Cuba? I have truly felt the tragic effects of hypocrites.

2004 election was quite nasty, yet President Bush practically did nothing to kill the political garbage dumpers. This President has no political integrity. He also hijacked people’s faith for his own gain. Is he an Objectivist? (Which is incompatible with Christianity)

The President made no progress on the issue with North Korea, even though the threat from the Stalinist country is so much greater than Iraq. The President made no progress with the “problems” in Iran. The President has tarnished America’s reputation abroad.

His support of torture is categorically immoral. His attempt to re-label torture, not torture, is lying, which is also categorically immoral. He believes we need to sacrifice our fundamental rights which are protected by the fundamental fabric of this nation for the sake of security. Really? If that’s the case, then why did General Washington risked his life to fight against the giant British? President Bush did practically nothing to fight against racism that is going on against “Middle East looking” people.

The Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. These are the two legislation that President Bush has signed to which I will remember dearly. The latter especially as the rest of the country slept along (Including the future fervent Obama supporters in their dogmatic slumber at this time), I was attempting to spread the word among my peers and among my community against this unconstitutional law that potentially strips any American of their fundamental, categorical right.

The fundamental ideological difference between President Bush and me is this. If a torturer threatens our lives with a gun and offers instead our complicit action to burn the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitutions, I will not hesitate but to protect those documents at all costs. After observing and reviewing his policies, I doubt that President Bush would act the same.

But I do not personally blame the President for all the misfortunes this country faced. I blame all of his surrounding advisors, staff members and think tanks that plagued his policies against progress and instead towards some twisted ideological experiment on the fragile nation. I disagree with his policies greatly, but I still like him, a lot. In fact, I would not mind to invite him to my house (Well, when I get one years later) for a cup of coffee. When his Presidential library is built, I really want to visit it and explore. Despite all the ideological clashes I have with President Bush, I will truly miss him.