Wednesday's letter from Wayne Jespersen is disheartening in its apologies for a failed administration. The way Jespersen characterizes the presidency was the way it was intended when the Constitution was written. Reality could not be further from the truth, however.
Bush has wielded more executive power than perhaps any president in history, so to say he has nothing to do with economic policy is, on the face of it, laughable.
The president is the elected head of his party, as well as its most recognizable face. Much lesser known members of Congress know this and trail on his coattails when he is popular. That is what we saw during Bush's first six years in office. All of his policies, economic and otherwise, were rubber-stamped by a Republican Congress that was more than happy to bend to his every whim. Even now, with a Congress that is closely divided, budgets must get passed, so the threat of a veto makes Congress shape its legislation to the president's liking.
To say we could all just get jobs to pay for our education is also ludicrous. I challenge you to look around Gainesville and show me a job that pays someone without a degree much of anything above minimum wage. And we're supposed to finance an education with that? At some point, people have to realize that Bush has been one of the worst mistakes the voting public has made in a very long time - possibly ever. We must take responsibility for our mistakes and stop making excuses for this tragedy of a presidency.
