Our president isn’t talented in many areas. He doesn’t talk so good and he has now literally made a joke of his foreign policies.

But George W. Bush is very good at one thing: Division.
I’m not talking about eighth-grade, get-up-in-front-of-the-class division. I don’t think Bush could divide 56 by 12. I’m talking about partisan-politics division, and our president is more partisan than the Republican elephant himself. Eventually, Bush’s division of America will only serve to weaken our country.
Bush, of course, has campaign commercials that blast Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for various reasons. One discredits Kerry for being “wrong on defense.” The ad says Kerry will weaken the USA PATRIOT Act and that Kerry wanted to wait for United Nations approval to enter Iraq.
While those issues are for another column, another time, the point is that Bush has always and will always divide America along these “patriotic” lines.
If you think the PATRIOT Act is quasi-McCarthyism because it essentially lets the government spy on Americans, then you’re practically a terrorist yourself. If you’re appalled by the fact that 610 American soldiers (470 since the war “ended,” as of Sunday) have died in Iraq, you might as well move to Germany and wear
lederhosen on Saturdays.
I know, these catty commercials come out every four years. The Democrats do it just as much as the Republicans. Kerry even has a feature on his Web site that allows you to vote in the “Final Four of most embarrassing Republicans.” It’s all just classic attack politics.
But the difference with Bush is that he’s aligned himself with patriotism. He is Uncle Sam. If you’re against him, you’re against America. And nobody wants to be un-American. Heck, I feel un-American for writing this column.
In a democracy, we should be able to criticize our government without feeling as guilty as Martha Stewart.
Bush pulls it all off for one simple reason: He’s strong. Even if every word he says makes him seem dumber than a signpost, he absolutely believes it all. I’ll admit, it’s infectious. Sometimes I have to slap myself and listen to the words. Listen to the words! In 2000, Bush was The Rock to Al Gore’s Pee Wee Herman. Obviously, a few hundred Florida voters thought that was enough to elect Bush.
But it’s time to look at the facts instead of the rhetoric. Bush is supposedly strong in foreign policy, but he has created only death and distrust in Iraq. He just lost Spain to the socialists. He has created animosity in the United Nations because of his false claims that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. He treats the rich like one giant buddy and is destroying our education system with No Child Left Behind laws.
Don’t let Bush fool you with his big words and ridiculous policies. Fight Bush’s division.
Vote Kerry.