While former "Obama girl" Amber Lee Ettinger is reportedly getting over her crush on our president, recent evidence has surfaced that some Americans may be regretting the breakup they had with their last ex; ex-president that is.
The media is buzzing about a little billboard off I-35 near a small Minnesota town actually called Wyoming featuring a smiling George W. Bush waving good-bye beside the caption, “Miss me yet?”
According to FoxNews.com, Bev Master, office manager with Schubert & Hoey Outdoor Advertising, said the billboard -- which the firm owns -- was rented out by a "group of small business owners and individuals who just felt like Washington was against them." She tells FoxNews.com that the ad buyers wish to "remain anonymous."
The sign isn’t what’s so telling though; it’s the media coverage of the sign, which was reported on major broadcast and cable news networks and the subject of countless Internet blogs.
That’s because during the rise of Barack Obama in 2008, Bush supporters got quiet and many conservative candidates distanced themselves from their party’s leader. Ironically, that cowardice is precisely what led to the end of the Republican Party in 2008 and brought it to the confused, challenged state in which it now resides.
That era is about to come to an end, however, because many people on both sides of the political spectrum are realizing that Obama is not the Messiah, and unlike the man who currently lives in the White House, Bush made decisions that empowered America instead of weakened it.
President Bush remains the only president in history since the 1812 burning of the White House to face a foreign attack
on the continental mainland of the United States. His responsibility was unlike any other commander in chief in history.
True, he led America into two separate wars and made decisions, together with the Congress, that ran up the deficit and rippled through the economy.
But he saved America, not just from the terrorists, but also from the apologist self-doubt and self-loathing that President Obama appears to support.
President Bush loved America, and before the Democrats unleashed their campaign of hate against him, America loved President Bush. His post-9/11 approval rating of 90 percent was the highest for any president in history. Still, when people changed their mind and Bush’s approval ratings dropped to 25 percent, he took it in stride. Perhaps being disappointed in America wasn’t something George W. Bush was capable of feeling.
Maybe this billboard, which is receiving so much unexpected attention is the first sign of hope; hope that we’ll change our direction away from flight and back to courage. That we’ll stand up and say what President Bush always said – that we too, love America and that there’s nothing wrong with that.
At this time we still don’t know the names of the people who put up the money for the sign to be posted in that little town of Wyoming, Minnesota, but whoever they are, they should come forward and proudly admit they support President Bush – as should the rest of us. It’s time to stop being afraid to come right out and say how we really feel.
We do miss President Bush, and we will never forget what he did for America and the world; not now, not ever.
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro is a journalist and lawyer who served on U.S. Senator John F. Kerry’s legal team during the 2004 presidential election. He is currently organizing a nationwide effort called “Honor Freedom” to correct the historical record about President Bush.
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