Missing him like sophomore chemistry

Along I-35 near Wyoming, Minn., there is a billboard advertisement with a photo of former President George W. Bush and the message “Miss Me Yet?”

The billboard, despite some theories, isn’t Internet trickery; it’s a real billboard, paid for by a small, anonymous group of small business owners who feel they’re being screwed over by Washington.

“Miss Me Yet?” Nope.

President Obama may not be the great savior his loyal fans thought he would be. He hasn’t fulfilled many of his campaign promises, the health care fiasco is still in shambles, and Congress can’t stop bickering long enough to pass anything.

But that doesn’t make me miss Bush.

I was 10 when Bush was elected, too young to know much about Clinton other than that he was the president and he’d lied about something, and adults I knew thought he should be impeached (I learned what “impeached” meant). I was too young to know why I “supported” Gore, and that was too long ago for me to remember if I actually knew anything about the candidates other than that Gore wanted to put everything in a “lockbox,” or if I was basing my preferences on who had better hair.

So my real knowledge of the presidency came during the next eight years, with George W. Bush – who is rated by historians as one of the worst presidents in history.

Those eight years weren’t easy – two wars that still haven’t ended, a terrible economy that eventually crashed, a natural disaster that left thousands dead and homeless, and in the end, a Congress that couldn’t do anything. Not all of that was Bush’s fault (as far as I know, he can’t actually cause hurricanes), but plenty of it was. He made horrible decisions, got into situations by not having enough information, and couldn’t pronounce the word “nuclear.”

Not that Obama’s been awesome, but I figure I’ll give him a year or two before I pass judgment. No one ever gets anything of importance done in a year (yes, IUSA, I am looking at you).

Whether or not you hate Obama, whether or not you blame a lot on Bush, you have to admit the country was a wreck – one Bush caused or at least didn’t fix, which got him record-low ratings in the polls. The public sang a round of “na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye” as the helicopter flew him away.

And that’s how I learned about the presidency – under a man I thought (and still think) was a complete moron.

It took me a while to stop automatically thinking of Bush every time someone said “the president.” It took me even longer to stop blaming him for things.

The country is still a mess, and things still aren’t getting done, and in the end not everything was Bush’s fault. Partisan politics divide the country, and Congress is too busy bickering Democrat versus Republican to get anything of substance done. The economy still sucks, the wars are still on, and groups are still going down to New Orleans to rebuild.

But do I miss Bush yet? Definitely not.

E-mail: hanns@indiana.edu