President's Lose Touch As Term Ends

As President Bush approaches the end of his second term in office, it is becoming clear to me that he – along with his immediate predecessors – have lost touch with reality and what is and is not important to the citizens of the United States. A few days ago, I watched in great pain as President Bush stood before the Washington press coup to talk about the US economy. Before long, it became clear that President Bush was completely out of touch with what was going on in the real world.

While some people will try and spin President Bush's comments with him trying to put the best face forward on an ever slowing US economy, in reality I believe he does not really understand what is going on right outside the gates of the White House and he is not the first or last President of the United States to lose touch with reality while serving as our commander-in-chief. I remember well when President Bush's father, President HW Bush was campaigning for his second term and being at a loss when he was exposed to a supermarket digital scanner for the first time while campaigning.

Bill Clinton was pretty much out of touch with reality when his second term ended as he lingered at a Washington airport for hours after President Bush was sworn into office. Before the Bush and Clinton administrations there was my favorite US President, Ronald Reagan who was was not only out of touch with reality when he left office – but also suffering from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. Then we have the days of Richard Nixon and during his final days he drank heavily and was rumored to walk around the White House at all hours of the night talking to the pictures of dead President's that hung on the wall who had served before he was even born.

While some people like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain want desperately to serve as President of the United States, the security bubble that is required to keep our President's safe from harm is increasingly causing them to get out of touch with everyday Americans and the problems and issues they face in their daily lives. Most people I know are very concerned about the US economy right now, but in President Bush's news conference last week he didn't seem to think there was anything to worry about. Of course as President of the United States there is little to worry about with everything taken care of in a timely manner and free travel available to take you where ever you want to go whenever you want to travel there.

President Bush is just the latest American leader that has found himself out of touch with the daily trials and trouble of the American people and just another example of why presidential term limits are so important to our country.

March 15, 2008 Archives