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Reader comment on: What If Bush Had Done That?

Submitted by Benjamin (United States), Oct 27, 2009 21:18

It is unfair to compare the treatment Bush received after 8 years of incompetence with the treatment Obama receives after 9 months in office. Does anyone believe that Obama doesn't work hard - that he should play golf to relax on the weekends? Does anyone think that Bush did not "freeze out" MSNBC in the same way Obama is currently treating Fox (Dana Perino is quoted as saying just this). As for drug company deal and snubbing the Dalai Lama, while I don't personally like the decisions, a Democrat can get away with bucking party orthodoxy in the same way a Republican can. George Bush would not get away with those deals because the assumption would have been that he was selling out the people for the drug companies. Because Democrats are perceived as proponents of health care, Obama gets a free pass. The equivalent would be to think about how George Bush would have been treated if he were in office now and deciding to draw down troops in Afghanistan. If Obama does this, he will be pilloried by the media because it fits into their understanding of what a Democrat always does - surrender. If Bush were in office and made the same decision, he would get a free pass. In other words, every President is held to the same standard, but the issues that arouse the media differ for each one.

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