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TIME: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?

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Sharmuta9/17/2009 3:49:49 pm PDT

I had an interesting conversation with an immigrant last night. He became a citizen of the United States a few months ago, but he asked two leftists what Bush had done to be considered such a bad president that Obama was doing differently. It took the republican to pipe up, because they had nothing.

I told him there was no difference in the war on terror that could be considered so radically different from Bush. That Bush planted the seeds of democracy in two regions of the world where it would serve as a balance against radical islam, but that Obama hasn’t moved away from this policy at all.

He was surprised. Said that was exactly what he thought and that people were not being intellectually honest concerning Bush. I told him that was going both ways right now, as people on the right want to give Obama no credit for following up on the Bush doctrine.

I think the biggest problem in politics right now is the us vs them mentality. More intellectual honesty, less partisan cheerleading. It’s the dishonesty that feeds the extremes, and the cheering is fuel for the fire. The party that decides to moderate, be honest, and hold the center will win.