President Bush gave a speech all about what he will do, and what will happen, if he becomes president, except he already is president. He already ran this campaign back in 2000. He promised great things.

The president can't tell you of any promises he made in 2000 that have been accomplished. As a result his only hope is to pull his opponent down to his level by use of surrogates, lies and 'paid' character assassins. As he has no record of his Vietnam era service, he must attempt to destroy his opponent's provable record. I am amazed that the president is able to ignore his failures and keep telling himself and you "mission accomplished."

The promises, the what he "will do if elected" just haven't happened and in the direction he is going they won't ever happen, so he asks you to envision them. He asks you to be "optimistic." He asks you to have faith that he might get around to your problems. Didn't we expect him to keep his promises, to do something for America in his first term? I did.

"Since 2001, Americans have been given hills to climb and found the strength to climb them," said Bush. "Now, because we have made the hard journey, we can see the valley below. Now, because we have faced challenges with resolve, we have historic goals within our reach and greatness in our future."

Recession, unemployment, corporate fraud, the most jobs lost since Herbert Hoover, 45 million people without health care, the largest deficits in history, a war based on lies that has cost us $200 billion and nearly a thousand American lives--they're all hills we've "been given to climb." It's as though Bush wasn't president, as though he didn't get the tax cuts he wanted, as though he didn't bring about postwar Iraq and authorize the planning for it. All this was "given" and now Bush comes back, three and a half years into his term, and says he wants to start solving the problems he created.

Isn't that the message of the entire Bush campaign? Isn't this all promise with no results? We heard the same promises four years ago. What happened? Nothing! Shouldn't the president have to show results? Shouldn't the president have to pay for his bad judgment and mistakes? He squandered his opportunities, he gave large gifts to his "rich friends," he asks you to 'suck it up and, perhaps, he will get around to addressing your problems. You, the ones who will provide the tax dollars to pay for those big tax cuts to his base--you know, the haves and have mores.

Wayne M. Sampson

Mexico, MO

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