I agree.

I saw Ari Fleischer being interviewed recently, and he was talking about how difficult it is to have the public only really understand a fraction of what is going on. He mentioned Gitmo as an example, and said it's not until you sit across the table with military commanders and look at the list of prisoners there and have a commander tell you, 'Prisoner A is from Pakistan. He trained in terrorist camps for two years and ran one for six. He had three brothers and they have committed a long list of terrorist acts, and they are now running a training camp outside of their hometown. Prisoner A was caught by our forces while taking a message to one of Osama Bin Laden's high-ranking followers about a pending attack in Great Britain. If we release him to Pakistan, they will not agree to hold him for more than thirty days in their jails. There is a high probability he will return to his hometown and rejoin his brothers at their terrorist training camp. Do we let him to or keep him in custody?" Ari said that when you are the president and that reality is on your shoulders it's a much different picture when theoretically, you are against holding people who have not been tried and convicted. If you keep them in custody you are criticized for violating their rights. If you let them go and then they commit a terrorist act on US soil two years down the road, it will be your fault. It's a no-win situation and anyone in the role that President Bush has been in will know that the decisions are excruciating and oftentimes, all of them carry negative consequences.

The bad things that are happening in our country right now aren't all his fault. They're really 'our' fault. We loved our credit cards and were softies who wanted the poor and downtrodden to be able to have homes to live in, and were willing to turn a blind eye to a system that, while probably well-intentioned, was not pragmatic enough to recognize that if someone can't support their family without assistance they likely aren't yet positioned to maintain a mortgage month after month. No law exists today that congress did not pass. No conflict is happening today for which congress did not appropriate funds. If Bush was wrong in his belief that Iraq posed a threat to us, then we must find equally to blame our new Secretary of State, because she not only affirmed his statements but put the financial muscle behind his solution.

He entered the White House to run a country whose economy was tanking thanks to the fall of the internet hype. Within months, the greatest man-made tragedy ever to be inflicted on American soil by a foreign enemy took place. It was a difficult set of circumstances, and I am confident that he did the best he knew how to do.

I realize that this is not true across the board for every conservative, but by and large I have been extremely proud of my party today. When I hear the phrase "peaceful transition of power," I take that as a credit to the minority party, for it is the out-of-power party that has the power to make it *not* peaceful. I remember moans and wails of "HE'S NOT MY PRESIDENT!" eight years ago when Bush took office, long before anyone had reason to disagree so strongly with any war-related policies of his. I remember signs about recounts and hanging chads and the stench of sour grapes in the air.

This time around, I'm not seeing that happen. The Bush camp is behaving with much class and maturity and respectfulness. If that's the stuff we're made of, then I have no doubt that it will carry us through to the next election cycle or two. The pendulum always swings the other way eventually, and ultimately God is in control.