Burned Up and Burned Out by Politics

President Bush almost killed me. It's true, and I have the scars to prove it -- multiple scars that are part of the public record -- you saw them in magazines and on my show, and you can see them on my blog frequently -- no twelve year wait required.

It was 2000, and the Republican National Convention was on television. The whole affair felt something like a home invasion, with a chronically smirking and arrogant George W. Bush as ringleader. Not wishing to be robbed of my optimism and hope at the time -- or to tumble into depression and despair -- I shut off the TV and decided to go fishing.

I needed gear, so I went to the store and bought a few things, including a knife, which I used to cut the price tags off of the fishing poles.

Now, I could have stabbed myself 100 times in the hand and not managed to do the damage I did with that one poke to the inside of my middle finger. I went all out, though, and got everything -- skin, ligaments, tendons, nerves. Maximum impact, including a particularly nasty staph infection that almost left me dead.

That's my personal war story from the demoralizing Bush years, and probably a minor one, considering the 935 documented lies told by the Bush administration that thrust us into an unjust war, killing thousands of Iraqi civilians and nearly 4000 Americans. One near-death experience probably pales in comparison to the $9 trillion dollar debt heaped upon the collective back of America, or the gross war profiteering by corporate friends of Cheney and Bush, or even the $10 billion dollar third-quarter profit Exxon recently reported.

Still, it hurt like hell, and the scars and swelling are there as a reminder. I was right to feel repulsed by Bush. Nearly everything his administration has done or stood for in the years since has been tainted by lies and corruption.

I've stuck mostly to newspapers and internet news sites since Bush took office. It's less painful to read Bush's stumbling, dishonest commentary in print than it is to see it live and in color -- with all that cocky, cowboy arrogance -- the kind that declared "Mission Accomplished" in 2003 knowing full well that the "mission" was based on lies, and that the "accomplishment" would leave American troops in Iraq for years to come cleaning up the mess.

It's a new season, with an election on the horizon, but like many others I have felt burned up and burned out by politics. While I've never tripped over to the apathetic side, I have been leery of politicians in general, particularly those who claim they have what it takes to clean up the catastrophic mess that will be Bush's enduring legacy, and America's decades-long burden. I just don't want to be stabbed again, literally or figuratively.

Tentatively, I've begun to watch politics on television again, For the most part, outside of some very unfortunate and unnecessary mudslinging, I find the Democratic candidates surprisingly easy on the eyes. When they break away from the sick political disease of backbiting, their optimistic messages of real change, relief, and hope resonate more clearly.

Hillary Clinton is not light on political experience or plans. Her deep knowledge, assured confidence, and personal strength shines through her speeches. While some would deride her for her background, few can argue that it hasn't been substantial enough, or encompassing enough, to qualify her for the presidency, which is an argument that has been used against her chief opponent, Barack Obama.

Obama is invigorating. A silken-tongued master of hope-filled speech, an eloquent narrator of the American dream. "Yes we can," he says, and the cheering crowd, inspired, rises to its feet. His background is more eclectic, and his roots more exotic than Clinton's, but only two of his eleven years in politics were in the U.S. Senate. Is it enough? His proponents say it is, and even call his relative inexperience an asset -- there's no politics as usual if you take out the usual kind of politicians.

It's still early yet, but so far I find both candidates believable. They are different, with a different mix of talents to bring to the political table, but they both seem to have the passion, plans, drive, and intelligence I want in my next president.

Could a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket be our future? I hope so. I think America would benefit from the strengths of either individual, but if those strengths were combined, we might just have the Democratic powerhouse the country needs to turn itself around, and back into peace, prosperity and opportunity.

May they both release the desire to receive for oneself alone -- and save the world together.

www.rosie.com

Comments

[melann830]

I don't believe this country needs another man running that white house. We have had men of all shapes and sizes on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and having one more -just because he is of African American persuasion will not change the way "men" do business in Washington. We finally have to elect a candidate who's mere presence in this primary is groundbreaking. Other nations see the fact that Hillary Clinton is remaining in the trenches as invigorating and look forward to this historic event. An Obama candidacy does not impress me and it shows by the number of young white men who voted for Obama that this isn't about race but about men not wanting to share the power with a WOMAN!!!

[KarenSL]

I love it when a tree branches out, it gives hope that those new branches will grow low and strong enough to finally be able to be reached and swung on from limb to limb by the little folk like me and NOW my initials carved in its big huge trunk will indeed be proof that I was there.

ro, your article was very insightful-now I finally realise that you've not been judging President Bush all this time on his "poor" policy/decision making abilities nor for all his "war crimes" as you so often preach, but it's simply been because he is a Republican President. Probably more so because he chose Dick Cheney as his Vice-President. I get it now, Dick Cheney has a lesbian daughter but you think Dick Cheney must be anti-gay cuz even with him being VP gays are still not allowed to get married legally. Therefore both were doomed from the get go, or even before (2000), in your eyes.

As the big victory in Congress by the Democrats has proven, the whole process is not just for a few but for the masses and that when it really comes down to the Government doing the business of the people not EVERYBODY will be happy.

If Senator Hillary Clinton becomes President Hillary Clinton I for sure will invest in the stock of any one of the "facial tissue" manufacturing companies, cuz STOCKS will be sky-rocketing! I believe the only reason why Senator Clinton wants to become President is to get her "tat" for the "tit" her husband was involved in in the Oral Office, pardon me that's OVAL, because us women love to play the "Tit for Tat" game and the score must be evened!

FYI a lot of people worldwide (me EXCLUDED) do not and never did, even prior to the Iraq War, consider the USofA the greatest country in the world, so please stop blaming President Bush for ruining the US's reputation abroad, cuz simply put it was already ruined years and years ago.

[Sociallyconscious]

Yes!!!!!! and maybe they will even do something to help the mentally ill of our country.

[Pennyfrommaine]

well the votes are in ,

Rosie, as usual , your insight has been the light.

Waiting on suggestions as to exactly how we get these two to play in the same playpen!!!!!!!

hugs and butterfly kisses from Maine

[mi]

I'm with you Rosie!

[kidrooms]

I agree Rosie...One can hope!

[factanonverba]

Rosie, How can you support someone who went out campaigning with Donnie McClurkin who believes that you and I can be cured of our homosexuality?

Or who refused to have his picture taken with Gavin Newsome, the mayor of San Francisco, simply because he didn't want to seen to a man who has lead the way on the rights of gay to marry?

http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2008/02/05/chronicle/archive/2008/02/05/BAM5US1B5.html?tsp=1

[belladawna]

qoute"Could a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket be our future? I hope so. I think America would benefit from the strengths of either individual, but if those strengths were combined, we might just have the Democratic powerhouse the country needs to turn itself around, and back into peace, prosperity and opportunity."

amen!!!! i've been saying this for months!!!!
it would be great if these two could team up....

[theblueAmerican]

I don't believe that Bush and company planned 9/11. I just hate that bullshit. Was the Bush Administration asleep at the wheel? You bet they were! But the Bush Administration didn't blow up the World Trade Center. People who believe that crap love noise. The fiction may be more enticing but then the facts but it is the facts we have to live by. Just as I don't like it when people compare Bush or Cheney to Hitler. I don't like Bush or Cheney. I am a left of center Democrat but neither man compares to Hitler or Stalin or even Saddam Hussien. Not even close. It demeans the memories of the victims of crimes against humanity. Just to be clear, I hate most of the policies and beliefs that the Bush Administration espouses. Don't be burned out on politics. I voted for Barrack Obama in the primary here in California. When it comes to the general election I will vote for Clinton or Obama. It matters to me and it will matter to all of us in America. 4 more years of Republican rule would be disasterous. Either Democrat will serve the middle class in this country. People need to vote their self interests. Get out and vote. Think about it. If Gore had become president instead of Bush. What a different world we would be living in. Makes you just weep and sigh as to what could've been. We need to not lose this opportunity. The hill will just be higher to climb if we don't. Just do it!

[texanna]

Rosie, you have described my mood perfectly. I am an Edwards supporter and just can't wrap myself around either of the two Democratic candidates left standing -- or should I say, the two candidates that the media has allowed to choose between? Either of them will be so much better than the Dark Ages of the last 8 years or the Neonuts' offerings this election cycle. I will see who ends up in the general and go from there, I guess. For right now, I'm just so over the political scene.

[condieshoes]

Rosie, I'm taking this opportunity to thank you for your courage and guts in regard to giving voice to your doubts about the 911 Commission reports. More and more information are coming out which only confirm what many, many Americans think.

Thank you.

[hoopesaz]

You REALLY can't be blaming Bush for your inability to use a fishing knife safely????

This story sums up the most fundamental difference between democrats and republicans. Republicans believe in personal responsibility and accountability. Democrats believe all of life's troubles are really someone else's fault.

Regardless of how much I agree with some of the key issues Dem's fight for, the stance of blaming everyone else for their troubles just nauseates me.

[StellaHere]

And still I ask in this Super-Duper Tuesday mayhem: what happened to Sen. Mike Gravel?

[pennyberg01]

Yes, Rosie- may thesse candidates let by-gones be by-gones and park themselves together on the Democratic ticket, a winning one to be sure. It would unimaginable and undefeatable- I, for one, would love it.

Bush has nearly killed us all, one by one. This debacle of the past 8 years is far from over- I have never hoped for a year to pass so quickly as I have this one. The primary, debates and subsequent election are just what this country needs to pass the time waiting for the idiot Bush to serve out his sentence on the American people.

God Save Us All.

[carmel]

Rosie, Your days on The View may be over but I'm grateful to you for the courage you exhibited while you did the show.I've never met Sherri Sheppard(sp?) but I'm astounded by the choice Bill Gedde(sp?) made to replace you; a Republican woman who does not believe in evolution but does believe that it is okay to beat your child. I'm sure Bill Gedde(sp?) feels much more comfortable now... too bad the show is a colossal bore without you. You and the Dixie Chicks were among the very few "famous" people who spoke out against the Bush government.Long before the rest of the country understood what was happening. I remember even Oprah and Gayle criticizing you on the radio, "you've gone too far" they said. Now Oprah stands beside a man who echoes what you've been saying all along. You're always ahead of the curve, Rosie. Embrace it because it is a gift. And thank you for all you have done for the love of the country and for the love of the troops.