By James Donahue

As the Bush Presidency creeps to a slow and exhausting conclusion, world leaders wait in the wings for America’s new leadership to take the reins of government. Evidence of this could be found in the world economic summit held this weekend in Washington. While Mr. Bush was hosting the event, the man the other leaders obviously wanted to meet with, Barack Obama, was not present.

The wait this fall is especially difficult due to the growing demand for action to stave off a world financial crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that rage on after seven long years, the political prisoners enduring what has, for many of them, been an unfair and possibly illegal lockdown, the block on stem cell research that has stymied American researchers for eight years, and a problem of global warming that is intensifying because the U.S. Office of Environmental Protection has had its wings virtually clipped, another generation of children pushed through an ineffective education system, and further breakdown of a collapsing national infrastructure. Beyond this, many victims of Hurricane Katrina are still waiting for help to arrive.

George W. Bush is generally regarded by world leaders and most Americans as the worst president in this nation’s history. He has taken the reins in efforts to lead during certain events, such as the 9-11 attacks, but his decisions turned out to be wrong based upon wrong information. He just led us into two wars that were unnecessary, we find ourselves locked into without an exit strategy, and the fighting appears to be exacerbating our bad relations with the Middle Eastern political groups that chose to attack us in the first place.

Bush and his cabinet apparently did not bother to ask why Osama bin Laden and his band of terrorists hated the United States enough to do what they did. If they actually did it.

Now it appears that the $700 billion bailout package sold by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and George W. Bush, during the week both legislative bodies were anxious to get out of Washington to campaign for their elected jobs, was another false claim. The money appears to be pouring into the pockets of the big money brokers without any help trickling down to the people who really need it . . . those who are losing their jobs, their homes and their health. Was it another calculated rip-off of American taxpayers?

Bush may be a president who leaves an eight-year term in office without establishing a single mark that he can claim as a positive mark on American history. The hope is that President-elect Barack Obama and his Democratic controlled house and senate will be able to fix the mess Bush has made of our nation and the world within the time voters have allotted. Pulling ourselves out of the deep recession/depression the Bush policies have created may take longer than the eight years Obama may get to do the job.

A major obstacle facing Obama is the general distrust the people in America and all around the world have generated in our government. Bush has cried “wolf” so many times, and used fear tactics to force incorrect Congressional and Senate action, Obama may be tested before he can get public support for programs he hopes to put in place.

A new president has always gotten a certain “honeymoon” period to get things done after taking office, but after this the patience of voters wears thin. Can we hang in there for the time it is going to take to make right all of the wrongs?

Obama is a very smart man and he has the talent of being a great orator, which will help in the task of healing the split that has torn our nation apart for so long. It also may help in healing the gulf the Bush Administration has created between the United States and the other nations of the world. But we must not expect miracles.

Fixing the problems created by the bungling, ill-advised and just downright stupid Bush Administration, while it was under the control of big business interests, is going to take a lot of thought, creative initiative and always the support of the people to help get the job done.

Obama is bright and willing, but we must not expect him to be a miracle worker.