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Opinion

President ignoring will of the people 

Reid Midgett
Opinon Columnist

We live in an age where a president can act as an emperor, charging ahead while his people cry out for him to stop. The message has been made clear: Bush will continue his campaign in Iraq despite continuing loss of support.

A Senate narrowly passed a bill Thursday that calls for $124 billion in new Iraq war funds but stipulates an Oct. 1 pullout date. 

Of course, President Bush will certainly veto any bill that calls for an end to the war in Iraq.

The recent elections in Congress revealed the American people's desire for change. It was a great victory for those fed up with the errors of the Bush administration.

Yet nothing has changed. The people have spoken, but the ruler remains stubborn. 

The United States is a representative democracy. Citizens elect officials to represent them in Congress, and those officials in turn seek to pass legislation reflecting the needs of their citizens. 

The democratic process was seen in full force last fall when Democrats took over Congress. When the will of a democratic country's citizens is that of change, the ruler must follow suit.

Our president's personal ambitions and goals do not matter in the larger scheme of things; he must respect the decisions of the people he was elected to govern. It's now time for the president to realize his place and bend to the will of the people.

President Bush is an earnest, ambitious man whose heart is most likely in the right place. But he made a mistake and continued to make mistakes trying to justify the first one. He needs guidance, and that guidance is being given to him. Now he needs to listen to it. 

This war has gone on too long, with no victory or accomplishment. One would think America learned its lesson about impossible wars from Vietnam. The United States swallowed its pride and pulled its troops out of a war that it knew it had lost. And now America is tired of this war.

This nation is starved for change. It's time for Bush to do his job and take action that reflects the opinions of his people. 

He cannot continue to march to the beat of his own drum as thousands of other drums thunder with a different, unified beat.

But Bush will veto the bill, and the Democrats will fight back as hard as they can to override that veto. The fight will continue here, and politicians will die political deaths in America as the fight in Iraq drags on and people die real deaths -- all for the ambitions of a handful of rulers in Washington unable to swallow with their pride and do what's right for the people they govern.

Midgett, a communication junior, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu