January 16, 2009

Last night, I saw something I just can’t get beyond. At Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta, as Bush’s farewell speech was about to begin, the swell of sinister laughter began, followed by jeers and disdainful mockery wrought with ignorant pride.  A smoke-filled room full of irate and rebellious citizens erupted in collective disgust, while their cars sat quietly in the parking lot whispering predictable “F the President” and “Endless War” bumper stickers. 

The staff candidly debated whether to turn up the volume on the TV or the music, as regular bar flies laughed in some kind of surreptitious liberal code, puffing on their American Spirit cigarettes, proud to hate America…proud to hate Bush and disgrace our nation.

The pontificating started, as if these chain-smoking, kid-free, non-tax-paying folks know more than everyone else, much less the president of the United States. The guy to the left of me, desperately trying to send the message that he wasn’t going to watch the TV if it killed him, looked up from his book and callously flipped Bush the bird. The bartender snickered in lively agreement, while I did everything I could to hold back from confronting this sorry excuse for a man.

My friend and I were sickened and couldn’t help but imagine what a bar full of Republicans watching Obama on TV would do. The scene played out much different. In fact, nothing would happen, and the television would have been turned up for all eager ears to hear.  The other side knows you respect your country and your president no matter whether you agree or disagree with the politics. If such dishonor were displayed toward Obama, people would probably be charged for racism and certainly considered hateful and self-important. 

But, ironically, it’s the people who preach peace and love not war, the guy in the bar last night, who are the most hateful and self-important, who cause the biggest stirs, who are content the least, disturbed the most and walk around with sneers and “I want my mommy” gripes about almost everything. These aren’t proud Americans, nor are they respectful Americans. They are immature, whiny Americans happy to hate their president and not happy about much else. Bush didn’t waver for your votes, as did Barack Obama, and didn’t change his views to be popular for people such as yourself. Thank goodness! Imagine an America full of that.

You come to know, as you grow older, that liberals need to get it straight. We all want peace, Democrats and Republicans.  But some of us just don’t need to arrogantly promote violent rallies in the name of it or fervently debate until we are blue in the face over stuff we really don’t know. None of us knows what really goes on in Washington, except those in it, but some of us do take time to learn and use our knowledge instead of blurting out absurdities to selfishly pump up our own uninformed ego. Illogically, it is those who think they know the most who know the least, as they will listen to only their side of the issues, refusing to learn about the other. 

Bush, like all Americans, wants peace. This is a man who held strong to his convictions, a man who kept us safe for eight years after September 11, 2008, when nobody thought that possible. If we had been bombed within the last eight years, Bush would have been blamed. Instead, he kept us safe, we were not bombed, and he’s blamed anyway. Similar to a bumper sticker I saw recently that read:  "Make levees not war."  Somehow, that makes sense to a particular group of people, and we know who they are.

To come to the level of these ignorant fools, specifically that idiot at the bar next to me who gave Bush the finger, here you go: “Bush is rubber; you are glue. Whatever you flip to him, bounces off him and comes back to you.” So, just continue to drown your sorrows over America and the pain you’ve suffered in the last eight years of safety from terrorism. And remember for next time…watching the president speak on TV is for mature audiences only.

Ironically, the motto at Manual’s Tavern is “Anybody Don’t Like This Life Is Crazy.” Seems as though they are preaching to the wrong choir. Liberals are never happy.