You don't boo a president, that just shows lack of class. I guess it shows the level of class that some that attended the inauguration have. It's an embarassment to the country. From what I hear, one of the only real negatives on the day.
LOL, what could he have done? if he did something negative, it would have only hurt his legacy. bush used clinton's transgressions against clinton to win, and clinton was gracious when leaving. obama used bush's record, its just campaigning.
You can disagree with his policies, but it still shows lack of class on a day that is supposed to unite the nation.
i don't 'disagree with his policies' i am disgusted and repulsed and horrified by his actions. and i think its appropriate to express that. he is a criminal and shouldn't be shown some absurd formalistic notion of respect. also booing bush sends a strong message to obama, that he needs to investigate and probably charge people who participated in torture and such in the bush administration.
Fine, to each his own. Probably were disgusted we took out a dictator that does far war to knowingly innoccent people as well.
I don't think the booing was necessary, but I do believe the prosecutions of Bush and Cheney should start today. Even though, I don't think the booing was necessary, it does serve as a reminder to Bush that he won't be able to keep secluded from people who disagree with him so much now. Bogey, the reason why I and possibly others didn't like Saddam was that he tortured, and ruthlessly killed civilians. The main reason I don't like Bush is that he tortured, and ruthlessly killed civilians. Before Bush the intel had to be 90% certain before making a military strike. That meant that 10% of the time innocent civilians would be killed. Bush changed that threshold to as low as 50%. That meant half the time Bush was OK with killing innocent civilians. That is brutal and wrong. No decent man would allow that. What's worse is that it was our leader who was responsible for that. I love my nation and want it to carry itself with dignity at all times. That was immoral, and stripped the nation of its principles.
yeah, silly me, for being disgusted at the deaths of hundreds of thousands of iraqis and perhaps ten thousand americans in a war that was unnecessary.
yes instead you said that because i feel as though bush deserves boos and because i am disgusted by bush's torture, i must love a dictator who kills innocents.
I don't think polling 8 years ago would've shown that a white woman would likely be president before a Black man. I think it would've been a tossup with it being narrowly more that a black man would be. Sexism and racism while barriers aren't interchangeable since there are different reasons why someone might discriminate. While woman have been able to occupy every major elected office in this country there is one fundamental difference with President that it not only is a civillian office but also is Commander and Chief and even now there still is prejudice in regard to the idea of women leading the military. Consider that women still aren't supposed to serve in battlefields and there are very few women who serve in the upper echelons of the military. To my knowledge there has never been a woman to have served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Given that there never was any controversy regarding Colin Powell as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs I believe that the American public has been far more accepting of the idea of a black male as both a civilian and a military leader than of a woman. Just take a look at popular culture. Even two years ago there was a TV show called Commander and Chief based on the controversial idea of a woman as a President. While 24 seven years ago did try to stoke some controversy of a black male as president 10 years ago in the movie Deep Impact no one batted an eye about having a Morgan Freeman playing the President and even in this season of 24 they are creating some drama around the idea of a female president particularly what role does the first spouse play. It is no doubt an achievement that Obama is the first black president and it is a great credit to this country and to him for doing so but I think the likely hood of a black man or white woman becoming president with all things being equal it was more likely that a black male would get there first. Since I'm rambling here I think what is much more impressive about Obama is that a candidate named Barack Hussein Obama with a very unusual upbringing became President.
Too bad there wasn't a black female that became president, then we could move past the silly argument from above.
Even going back just 10-12 months, there were a huge number of questions of whether Obama could win a national election due to his race. There were questions whether he could win an all-white Iowa. Then again whether Hispanic people would vote for a black man. Then again with Pennsylvania, etc. There were never those kinds of questions about Hillary - *ever*. For a comparison of difficulty taking Hillary/Obama out of the equation, just look at statewide races and compare how often women win Governorships or Senate races compared to minorities. The vast majority of African-Americans elected to government office are doing so in minority-dominated district, which allows us to have a lot of House Reps (I believe we only have 1 African American in the US Congress who is not in a minority-majority district). Women have no such issue, because half the population is female. That's not to say women have it "easy". But the challenges facing African Americans are unique for two reasons: a history of racism and a much smaller natural demographic base of support.
I watched about 3 hours of the 'The Presidents' on the History Channel last night. It seemed like almost every President losses popularity by the end of his term and most can't wait to leave the office. The Bush Administration certainly limited their chances for success by putting wrongheaded ideology ahead of pragmatism but yesterday, with a transition of power, was a day to celebrate the genius of democracy; the fact that it allows for reconsideration and redirection without bloody coups or revolutions. Yesterday was about the celebrating the system. Booing was inappropriate, but nobody could question what you were cheering about when you cheered GWB getting on the helicopter out of town.
Of course you boo presidents. That's American as apple pie and has a long, long history in this country. There's no exception under Freedom of Speech that directs Americans to refrain from booing the President. You particularly boo presidents and vice-presidents who have spectacularly wrecked the country. By the way, has anyone noticed that the wingnuts, who just went 8 years referring to Bush as the Commander-in-Chief instead of President now are back to using President where Obama's concerned? Funny, funny dead-enders.
