[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZkKTTZuxO8&hl=en&fs=1]
The above video is the entire last press conference for George W. Bush in his role as the President of the United States. I don’t expect any of my readers to watch the whole thing but it’s there for you to view. In exactly one week, President-elect Obama will be sworn in and he will take on the responsibility of running the United States.
Reading about Bush’s last press conference today made me pause for a minute. Dubya has been running the show for eight painfully long years. Perhaps narcissistically, I began to think about what I was doing eight years ago. First, I was still in my mid-20s when Bush took power on that sad day in January 2000! Wow, I was just a young whipper-snapper back then!
Eight years ago, I was working for EA, as I am now, but I was a video game tester and I made $10.50 an hour. On the day of Dubya’s inauguration, I was at work testing a game called Triple Play Baseball for the PC. EA doesn’t even make that game franchise anymore.
Eight years ago, I hadn’t even thought of going back to school, let alone thinking grad school was an option. I didn’t even know what St. John’s College was and had nearly forgotten what it was like to eat dinner off a plastic tray.
In eight years, I’ve done a lot of things that I’m quite happy with. In those same eight years, Bush has done a lot too but I’m not sure he’s happy with his list. Now obviously I’m biased but here’s a very comprehensive list of executive branch failures in the American government since 2000, also known as the things Bush screwed up while in power. Some of those items pale in comparison to some missteps that will likely define his legacy: Iraq, hurricane Katrina, and Afghanistan.
One more week before the White House is under new management.