Farewell, And Thank You
Tomorrow, the administration of George W. Bush will join history as the 43rd president of the United States of America. Mr. Bush's tenure over two four-year presidencies produced quite a bit of damage, not only to the country itself, as a result of poor decision-making, secretive and under-handed manoeuvrings, but to the world at large.
The almost universal lack of esteem in which this president is held is a fairly good barometer of his failure in administering his country's fortunes to achieve and advance a fair and just society. He has left the United States, and the world in general in a poorer state than when he entered the White House. His passing into history is celebrated, not mourned.
And the country is alight with expectation with the arrival and investiture of the 44th president of the United States: Barak Obama. Mr. Obama inherits a country in grave economic difficulties, one that is engaged in two wars, and with a legacy of wasted diplomacy on the world stage. Almost friendless within the international community, but not for much longer.
Much hope has been pinned on the potential that president-elect Obama brings to the Oval Office.
Whether, or how much of what the American public has been led to believe can be accomplished will be for the future to decide and history to analyze. The least that can be said of Barak Obama is that he is not George W. Bush. The most that can be said of him is his presentation as a reliable, honest, gifted and intelligent man, offering his services to the country he represents.
With the departure of George W. Bush, his representative in Canada, Ambassador David Wilkins, takes leave of this country. Ambassador Wilkins, much unlike most of his predecessors, is a decent, sweet-tempered, kind and diplomatic individual. He, with his wife, did their very best to bridge a widening gap between the two countries. They both made an enormous effort to understand the country they were stationed in.
No officiously rude and intolerant statements issued from his lips, condemning Canada, which his predecessors seemed to feel it their duty to engage in. His three-and-a-half years in this country were marked by the civility of his personality, his willingness to understand the differences in cultural values between his country and ours.
His acknowledgement of Canada's importance to the United States as a stalwart ally in most enterprises, and a leading source of energy and other commodities, in a mutual trade exchange that greatly benefited both countries went a long way to mollifying Canada's occasional hurt feelings on being rebuffed by his country's leaders and lawmakers.
He was aware of the growing rift in trust between the United States and Canada as a result of the growing fear and mistrust the United States experienced after 9-11, and he did his best to support Canada's position that it was a trustworthy and reliable partner in the global battle against terror, erroneously targeted as a terror gateway into the United States.
This country can only hope that the next U.S. diplomat assigned to represent American interests as ambassador to Canada will be imbued with a similar sense of fairness and empathy that we experienced with Ambassador Wilkins. He will be missed.
The almost universal lack of esteem in which this president is held is a fairly good barometer of his failure in administering his country's fortunes to achieve and advance a fair and just society. He has left the United States, and the world in general in a poorer state than when he entered the White House. His passing into history is celebrated, not mourned.
And the country is alight with expectation with the arrival and investiture of the 44th president of the United States: Barak Obama. Mr. Obama inherits a country in grave economic difficulties, one that is engaged in two wars, and with a legacy of wasted diplomacy on the world stage. Almost friendless within the international community, but not for much longer.
Much hope has been pinned on the potential that president-elect Obama brings to the Oval Office.
Whether, or how much of what the American public has been led to believe can be accomplished will be for the future to decide and history to analyze. The least that can be said of Barak Obama is that he is not George W. Bush. The most that can be said of him is his presentation as a reliable, honest, gifted and intelligent man, offering his services to the country he represents.
With the departure of George W. Bush, his representative in Canada, Ambassador David Wilkins, takes leave of this country. Ambassador Wilkins, much unlike most of his predecessors, is a decent, sweet-tempered, kind and diplomatic individual. He, with his wife, did their very best to bridge a widening gap between the two countries. They both made an enormous effort to understand the country they were stationed in.
No officiously rude and intolerant statements issued from his lips, condemning Canada, which his predecessors seemed to feel it their duty to engage in. His three-and-a-half years in this country were marked by the civility of his personality, his willingness to understand the differences in cultural values between his country and ours.
His acknowledgement of Canada's importance to the United States as a stalwart ally in most enterprises, and a leading source of energy and other commodities, in a mutual trade exchange that greatly benefited both countries went a long way to mollifying Canada's occasional hurt feelings on being rebuffed by his country's leaders and lawmakers.
He was aware of the growing rift in trust between the United States and Canada as a result of the growing fear and mistrust the United States experienced after 9-11, and he did his best to support Canada's position that it was a trustworthy and reliable partner in the global battle against terror, erroneously targeted as a terror gateway into the United States.
This country can only hope that the next U.S. diplomat assigned to represent American interests as ambassador to Canada will be imbued with a similar sense of fairness and empathy that we experienced with Ambassador Wilkins. He will be missed.
Labels: Canada, Human Relations, Realities
posted by Pieface @ 5:39 PM
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