W.

As President Bush leaves office today, I have been reflecting on him, as a man.  Though I don't necessarily agree with all of his policies, I have always been a big fan of the man George W Bush.  Even in the depths of his unpopularity I have said (at risk of being completely mocked, by the way!) that I really believe the day will come when he will regain his reputation and that he will be seen as the great man that he is.  

There are some seriously evil people out there (and foolish people who believe them), who for some reason have portrayed President Bush as some kind of a tyrant who wants to deprive people of rights, strip them of their security, and oppress other nations.  To them I just roll my eyes and say: mental illness cannot be addressed with logic or turned to reason with truth, so I have nothing more to add. 

In reading some quotes that I used in my previous post, I ran across this one, which was actually my inspiration for this post. 

"Let the people see to it that they get righteous men to be their leaders, who will labour with their hands and administer to their own necessities, sit in judgment, legislate, and govern in righteousness; and officers that are filled with peace; and see to it that every man that goes forth among the people as a traveling officer is full of the fear of the Lord, and would rather do right as a sacrifice than do wrong for a reward.

"...We want men to rule the nation who care more for and love better the nation's welfare than gold and silver, fame, or popularity." -Brigham Young, July 4, 1854

George W Bush is an excellent man.  When he was president, I never worried a single day that he would steer us in a direction that would warrant judgement or retribution from above.  I really believe he is a man of character, integrity, and yes-- intelligence.  I am grateful for the sacrifices he made to be our leader for the last 8 years, and I recognize that he was crapped on for every single one of those days.  Though I don't believe he deserves it, I hope President Obama gets better, only because it is a ridiculous shame and embarrassment when we treat our own leader like the classroom dunce just to make our own positions seem correct.