As the days count down to President Bush leaving office, a barrage of emotions have come over me that I did not expect. I knew it would be hard for me to see President Bush go, but these feelings caught me off guard. You see, the Bush presidency became very personal to me. It literally defined my life and changed it forever.
When President Bush took office in 2001, we were an average middle class family with three kids, then ages 12, 15 and 18. Life was hectic but nothing too out of the ordinary. President Bush instilled confidence in me. I felt like he had good insight and understanding and could get the job done. After 9/11 he demonstrated an ability and strength of character that made me believe he was the right man at the right time, and that America would be well served by him. I admired his determination and steadfastness to do what had to be done. I knew that President Bush was driven by his depth of character, his core values and beliefs, and his desire to always do what was best for America.
President Bush did not seem to care about scoring political points or making personal gains. That knowledge comforted me when my son Adam joined the Marine Corps in 2004. It was a fact that Adam would be going to war, but he would do so under a president who desired nothing more than to protect America. Knowing that, reassured me. My son would not be putting his life on the line as a pawn in someone's political game or to fulfill some ulterior motive of the powerful. No, my son and every other person who served, did so at the direction of a man who himself was a servant to the people.
On August 31, 2006 President Bush sat with my family and privately expressed his condolences for our son's death in Iraq. The sincerity of his heart was evident. Our son's death was personal to him too. This young American had gone into battle at his direction and had come home to his family in a casket. He grieved with us but remained steadfast in his duty to defend America. Although we had just buried our son, we held firm to our belief in the need to complete and win the war in Iraq. The future of the American way of life depended on it.
In addition to taking the fight to the terrorist and keeping it off our homeland, the U.S. presence in Iraq liberated 25million people, and helped form an oasis of emerging freedom and democracy in the a volatile middle east, which was necessary for our safety here at home.
The President's development of the department of Homeland Security and implementation of various programs to monitor, detect and thwart threats against America have worked. Since 9/11 no attacks on the homeland were able to come to fruition. The homeland had been kept safe.
The last eight years have brought good and bad. I won't say I have agreed with everything President Bush has done, but what he has done, he did out of a conviction to do the right thing for the people and for the country. He has acted with courage, honor and integrity throughout his eight years as our president.
To President Bush I say thank for serving our nation in such an honorable way. Thank you for recognizing the real threats we faced and for acting to preserve and protect our nation and it's people. Thank you for being a man of integrity and being willing to do the right thing regardless of the direction the political wind was blowing. You honored God, you honored our country and now Mr. President I honor you and thank you for a job well done.
God Bless you and your family.
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