Commentary Defending the President

Eric Dolson stated that President Bush has "failed miserably" at "cutting taxes, reforming education, strengthening our energy supply, controlling unnecessary spending and bolstering our national security," ("A storm is coming," The Nugget, March 31, page 2).

1. You state that President Bush gave "tax cuts to the top few percent of Americans, not the rest of us." Taxes were cut for everyone that pays taxes. My taxes were lowered, and like most Americans I received an $800 refund as well. Last time I checked, I wasn't anywhere near the top percent of Americans in terms of income.

2. Failed to reform education. You are blaming the President for overcrowded classes and failing education, and that the No Child Left Behind act did nothing. Having spent time in the classrooms, I don't see the overcrowding to which you refer, and the school reports show that our children are continuing to excel in assessment tests. Maybe you were referring to some other school district.

As a journalist, you know that shining a light on a subject can bring about change. The No Child Left Behind act does just that -- if schools don't measure performance and make changes as needed, they will lose their funding. A bad report means the Principal has to explain to the community how they are going to improve. Accountability is a good thing, even for schools.

You are no doubt aware that the vast majority of school funding comes from Salem, not Washington D.C. No question that our method of funding schools needs some serious work, but why point the finger at President Bush? Oregonians won't support higher taxes because of the wastefulness that goes on in Salem. What we need is an Oregon Schwarzenegger. You know, a famous celebrity who has no ties to special interests. I wonder if Dan Fouts really likes broadcasting...

3. Strengthening our energy supply. You claim that the President is responsible for the highest gas prices ever. Actually, if you adjust for inflation, gas prices were higher in the early '80s than they are now, and we still have significantly lower gas prices than Europe. Your attempt to tie Enron to the President is baffling, as we all know that the Enron greed machine was running full speed under Bill Clinton (not that he was responsible for it either) and when it collapsed, the Bush administration has gone after them in a big way.

4. Controlling unnecessary spending. You chastise the President for going from surplus to deficit, yet you never mention 9-11 and the effects on our economy. You blame him for bad roads and the financial problems of Medicare and Social Security. We all know that the roads were bad before he took office and that Medicare and Social Security have been heading south for a long, long time. Of course none of these issues will mean squat if we aren't protected from foreign threats.

5. The President has "failed miserably" at bolstering our national security. The terrorists bombed the World Trade Centers in 1993 killing Americans, and we did nothing. They blew up two of our embassies in 1998 killing Americans, and we did nothing. They attacked the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 killing Americans and we did nothing. They attacked the World Trade Center in 2001 and President Bush went after them. Despite repeated threats from al Qaeda, exactly how many times have they attacked the U.S. since 9-11? Zero.

As far as your comment about the lack of WMDs pointing to a Bush conspiracy to go into Iraq, remember that Bill Clinton called for regime change in Iraq in 1998 due to WMDs. John Kerry is on record as saying that we needed to remove Saddam Hussein because of the threat of WMDs.

George Bush acted on the same information that other men just talked about. Are we safer today because of his actions? Without a doubt. Let Europe sink into the same appeasement mentality that cost them millions of lives in World War II.

Americans are smarter, bolder, braver, and stronger than that.