Posted on Thursday, 22nd January 2009 by Maritzia
“I made the hard decisions.” Those were the words of our not-so-esteemed Former President. They’ve been going around in my head in the last week, and I finally was able to put my finger on why they annoyed me so much (more than his words usually do, I mean). It’s because he didn’t make “the hard decision”.
The Hard Decision
Hard decisions require going against what would be popular, knowing it would hurt you in the long run, but doing it anyway because it was right, regardless of legalities. The hard decision regarding torture would have been very different from Bush’s decision. The hard decision would have been to decide against torture, even if it meant possible harm to citizens in the future, because torture is wrong. It would have been making that decision against torture knowing that one day he may have to stand before grieving family members and admit that he might have been able to stop the attack, but chose to do what was right.
Bush Didn’t Make the Hard Decision
The decision Former President Bush made on torture was not the hard decision. It was the expediant decision. It was the easy way out. It was a decision he figured he could easily defend before the country, because it was done under the guise of “keeping America safe”.
And if this was truly a hard decision, he wouldn’t have taken time to get a legal position on his actions. If it was a hard decision made because he truly thought he was doing the right thing, he’d have gone forward regardless. Instead he took time to get legal opinions on his actions. That’s not making a hard decision. That’s covering your ass.
Thanks to all that is divine that that man is no longer in a position of power in our country.
Posted in Activism, Political | Comments (3)
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:39 am
It was the expediant decision. It was the easy way out. It was a decision he figured he could easily defend before the country, because it was done under the guise of “keeping America safe”.
More than that he counted on the ability to portray them as aggressive brown peoples, which is an image that many can identify with given the proliferation of racism in American society.
Renees last blog post..When Hyper Masculinity Supports Racism and Sexism In Policing
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:43 am
After watching Obama’s first day on the job, I was amazed how busy the presidents actually are on any given day. I imagine that it would be impossible to go through any day in that position without making at least one hard decision. Of course that all depends on your opinion of the word “hard”.
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January 23rd, 2009 at 8:39 am
Exactly! Thank you for pointing that out. I mean, why not torture them? It’s not as if they were white or anything!