Obama Rebukes Bush

Obama Rebukes Bush in His Inaugural Address
Tuesday Jan 20, 2009

One of the songs from the motion picture South Pacific (1958) goes “I'm gonna wash that man right outa my hair, and send him on his way.” And that is precisely what President Obama did to former President W. Bush in his inaugural address. There were those that labeled President Obama's Inaugural Address as "rife with platitudes," "a hodgepodge," "low brow," and "full of tired language." They did not realize the greatness of this speech, missing the stark rebukes of the corrupt, inept, and hated era of George W. Bush and the ideological certainties that President Obama said would drive the United States out of a dark chapter into a new age by reclaiming older, more prosperous, and successful values. Not since 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a restoration of American ethics and vigorous government action as Herbert Hoover sat and seethed on the inaugural stand, has a new president so publicly rejected the essence of his predecessor's path. The following highlight these rebukes. http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/21/america/assess.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_RwRvQ6Oh0 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/21/obamas-inaugural-address_n_159713.html

* Obama reflected back on President Franklin Roosevelt who rebuked the former Hoover administration when FDR said, “Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.” In comparison Obama’s statement was more uplifting when he said, “The time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history…..our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/man-in-a-hurry/

* Obama cast America’s current downtrod mood as the result of President W Bush’s eight years of mismanagement by stating, “Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.” Obama went on to assure Americans that he’d pull us out of this morass. “They [the challenges that lie ahead] will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.”
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-rebukes-bushs-policies-in-much-anticipated-inaugural-address-2009-01-20.html

* Domestically, Obama sounded out statements that put a spotlight on President Bush’s last eight years as being full of promises never enacted and boasting about things way out of synch with reality. He said “On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
President Bush’s two most glaring examples are
(1) False Promises - Following Hurricane Katrina, Pres Bush stood in Jackson Square and promised to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and “to do whatever it takes.” Three and a half years later tens of thousands of people are still waiting for help and experts all agree that the Bush administration never followed through on most of those promises made that day in Jackson Square. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jMzCtYfHZidUJbcGzKazfpZW3xLgD95LT6GO0
(2) Worn out Dogmas - His infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech on May 1, 2003 when President Bush aboard the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, an “end” that would see over 4,000 more U.S. troops killed in the ensuing years of a costly war that in the end may not have been necessary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished

Apparently Obama felt that President W. Bush has been AWOL when it comes to science. He said, “We will restore science to its rightful place. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” In fact the federal investment in basic and applied research declined each year during the Bush administration. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-262935.html

Obama had a similar criticism when it came to health care. He went on with… “and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost” President Bush’s health care record can be summed up by his failure to address the problem of millions of uninsured Americans, stem the rising costs of health care, or to expand eligibility for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
http://dpc.senate.gov/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=tp-108-2-80
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Children

Obama never thought much of President Bush’s refusal to join other nations in curbing carbon dioxide emission by not signing the Kyoto Protocol of 2005 signed by 141 industrialized countries. He said in rebuke of President Bush, “We consume the world's resources without regard to effect. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1264386.stm

Obama apparently didn’t think much of Bush’s efforts to improve education when he said, “We will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” President Bush has been criticized for a No Child Left Behind law that has inadvertently weakening state-level testing, dumbed down the entire American educational system, and intruded into state educational responsibilities.
http://www.heritage.org/research/education/bg2047.cfm
http://www.elladvocates.org/media/NCLB/MG25dec06.html

President Obama provided the most profound rebuke of President W. Bush by trashing conservative principles that started under Ronald Reagan and grew under President W. Bush. He said, “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.” In the eyes of Obama these principles have nearly choked to death American growth and prosperity.
http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2009/01/has-ground-shifted-beneath-us.html

Obama implied that President Bush was responsible for the lack of monetary checks that created the recession, and for operating in a vale of secrecy in the name of national security. He said, “Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government…without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control.”
http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/george-w-bushs-monetary-offenses-51746.aspx

Obama has been particularly critical of President Bush for pushing through a tax bill that produced large deficits, protected the special interests of the rich (“protecting narrow interests”), undid a progressive tax code, and laid more of the burden on wage earners and less on those with investment income. He said “..and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.” http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/05/business/cuts.php

In a rebuke to President Bush for allowing (and encouraging) his supporters to criticize anti-war activists as un-American and aiding the enemy, Obama said, “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.”
http://www.americanreformation.org/policy/Defense/TheWillofUN4.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1019-02.htm

President Bush grouped together Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an axis of evil. Obama came out clearly on the other side when he said, “Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_Evil

Obama wanted to recognize that Muslims are part of the American nation and should receive much needed praise. His next line was cheered and relished by the 1.1 billion Muslims around the world and a rebuke of President Bush’s association of America’s legacy with only Christians. But for Obama it was not the case as he categorically stated, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers.” http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=5&i=2756

Most foreign observers have stated that America’s image has been hurt by President Bush’s global war against Muslims under the disguise of fighting terrorism. In rebuke of this perception, Obama categorically stated, “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=5&i=2756

President Obama's rebuke of President George W Bush’s policies made clear that America will be going in an entirely different direction, a new direction that was made abundantly clear in Obama’s first week in office when he effectively repealed and reversed a number of Bush’s executive orders and policies. Obama……
* Lifted a ban on federal funding for international groups that promote or perform abortions.
* Signed orders to closure of Guantanamo Bay within the next year.
* Froze the salaries of his senior aides.
* Mandated tough new ethics laws banning lobbyists from serving in the administration. But on the very next day Obama made an exception by naming the top Raytheon lobbyist as the #2 man at the Pentagon.
* Demanded that the government disclose more information by making it easier for government agencies to give access to records under the Freedom of Information Act.
* Moved to give states a freer hand in curbing greenhouse gas emissions from cars
* Moved to enact tighter fuel-efficiency standards that could remake the auto industry. http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-rebukes-bushs-policies-in-much-anticipated-inaugural-address-2009-01-20.html

For a Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address delivered at noon Jan 20, 2009 on the steps of the U.S. Capital see http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_go_pr_wh/inauguration_obama_text
A partial U-tube @ http://vodpod.com/watch/1299614-worn-out-dogmas

To review great moments in Presidential speeches see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP4d4oFKv78