This Tuesday, when Barack Obama is sworn in as our 44th president, I'll be excited for a number of reasons. His election is historic and inspiring, and watching it all take place on the National Mall is going to be very, very cool. Perhaps more important, however, is who he is going to replace in office.
George W. Bush gets criticized a lot (often rightfully so) for a plethora of reasons - alienating our international allies, lying to advance a secretive agenda, appalling acts of torture, the reduction of domestic civil liberties, his perceived stupidity... I could keep typing for hours. One of his most aggravating traits, to me, is his stubborn refusal to consider opposing viewpoints. Conversely, what I think is, at least partially, so powerful about Obama is his diplomatic nature. He makes an effort to understand various perspectives on controversial issues, even if his ultimate stance remains unchanged. This attitude is important both because of its inherent pragmatism and because, projected onto the US as a whole, it makes us look good.
Anyway, reading Bob Woodward's piece in the Post made it even more clear to me just how ineffective and frighteningly closed-minded the Bush administration has been. It details how he didn't respect contradictory advice from even his closest advisors (including Colin Powell, whom I like a lot). We will probably never know the extent of the reprehensible things Bush did while in office, and that's most likely for the best. Even reading these ten "lessons to take away from the past eight years" makes me extremely uncomfortable. I find numbers 1, 2, 5, and 8 to be particularly offensive.
I don't have any guarantee that Barack Obama will be an effective president. But based on his attitude alone, I'm positive he'll be a major improvement over Bush.
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