Eight years later.
Eight years later and the Democrats have everything they could wish for. A liberal in the White House, majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and a “mandate for change.”
Eight years after George W. Bush came to power. Eight years since a president entered the White House for whom everything has gone wrong. Eight years of war, of scandal, of natural disaster, of economic crisis.
These problems faced by America — some solved, some unresolved, some made entirely worse — left Democrats in an interesting position.
Don’t look at me. It wasn’t us. Blame Bush.
Whether entirely created by the president, somewhat mishandled by the president or an example of terrible circumstances, every issue that George Bush has struggled to manage has been a turkey shoot of criticism from the Left. Democrats have sat idly by, watching as Republican executive leadership has bungled nearly every opportunity for presentation of competence, and merely enjoyed the show. We liberals have watched the White House and self-righteously, albeit justly, pointed out every mistake, critiqued every move, cracked jokes, made faces, typed e-mails. The well of material has never run dry, as President Bush continues even in the lame-duck end of his reign to make quotable lines, sad speeches and bad decisions.
We have sat high on the mound of earth piled up from the hole Bush has dug. If the country has spiraled out of control, we, at least, have clean hands.
Iraq: Don’t look at me.
Katrina: Wasn’t us.
Wall Street: Blame Bush.
But as of Jan. 20, we are due to descend the high ground with its lack of responsibility, finally switching positions with the Republicans, whom we have so gladly ridiculed. We have waited eight years for this moment, but at what cost to our ego? It has been easy for our heads to grow. In 2000, Al Gore and George W. Bush took part in the most highly competitive presidential race in history, with Bush narrowly succeeding. Since then, Gore has won an Oscar and a Nobel Prize. Bush has been arguably the worst president in history.
Now, though, or at least in 75 days, our egos shall be put to the test. Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. He will have legislative support, opportunities for nominations and the aforementioned mandate. He will have a great chance, in this time of times, to facilitate that which we need now most of all: progress. But there will be problems, of that we may all be certain. Cleaning up the legislative mess left by the Bush administration will be no easy task. Some of these problems will, in all fairness, be outside of Obama’s control, despite the messianic qualities attributed to him by his supporters.
All the same, in times of trouble, to whom will we look to blame? Bush? The legitimacy of that classic attack, although rightly deserved in many areas, will only last so long. We have grown lazy and more partisan, and have forgotten that Democrats have, in fact, been complacent these past eight years. Obama will make mistakes, excuse my blasphemy. Let’s try to be fair. He’s untested and facing the gravest of executive grocery lists. Let’s try to remember that we’ve spent the last eight years blaming everything but the odd rainy day on President Bush. Let’s see if we can be as critical of his mistakes as we will be celebratory of his successes.
Let’s see if we can judge him as critically as we did Bush and still be pleased with his work.