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As President Bush wraps up his second year in the White House, he finds himself juggling an armful of new crises and old problems.

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The reason there is so much juggling is Bush never prepared himself for the presidency, or for that matter anything else as nearly as I can see. Each event taking place does not occur within previously thought out considerations, but is a bolt out of the blue requiring instant decisions that should have been thought out years before, but weren't. He's about 20 years behind the development level he should be to be a president. What little development has taken place has been in the wrong direction. The fact Monica Lewinsky isn't under the desk and the Bush's look dignified on Christmas cards doesn't change it.

Yep, Bush is nothing more than "Abe the Railsplitter", and he doesn't mind at all if you continue to underestimate him.

For my part, I'm not fooled at all. While he spouts malapropisms in public, he is quietly consolidating more power than any president in U.S. history, including Lincoln. And, all the while, his opponents continue to make the supreme mistake of underrating his abilities -- and they are paying the price for their misperceptions.

So we clearly see different things when we look at Bush, and that alone should be cause for reflection. While I think Bush's motives are honorable, I am nonetheless very concerned about the monumental shifts in the balance of power that are taking place. We are still suffering from the consequences of Lincoln's federal-heavy policies and Reconstruction legislation.

I recommend looking at what Bush does, not what he says. History will reveal soon enough which perspective is right.

He is a good man..and a helluva improvement over the pervert.
No one prepares for Presidency for 20 years....It is
there and when you get it- you do it your way...it sure
as hell is working for President Bush..not just "Bush"
as his assinine critics usually spout....Right man at the
right time...no apologies..just rip out their heart
and jam it up their...a$$. Jake

"Each event taking place does not occur within previously thought out considerations, but is a bolt out of the blue requiring instant decisions that should have been thought out years before, but weren't."

This sort of policy making is rather like throwing a pair of dice and saying "just what I wanted" after every roll. It may be considered characteristic of the generation. Pathological reactions based on momentary impressions are about as much as can be expected, and are as much as we can hope for. For some people on this forum, it is considered evidence of the Divine Finger of Providence guiding Bush's hand, because it's the way they make decisions themselves. There is no thought, there is no contemplation, there is no awareness of anything beyond what can be comprehended at a glance, and a generalized silly, condescending, bemused assertion of a transcendent knowledge of the ulterior motivations behind any criticism of the President. There is no in-depth understanding of the principles of the Declaration of Independence or the intellectual, cultural, and philosophical environment in which it was written, or the historical progression that preceded the Declaration or the historical events which proceeded from it.

Obviously nobody reads anything which can properly be called a book, and apparently watching a movie based on a screen adaptation of a book is thought to be the equivalent of actually having read it.

I would argue that Cliff Notes are too hard and tedious for folks to read these days. Very few people seem to be aware that an awareness of the existence of something is not the same as actually understanding it.