by Michael Burgwin

Created on: February 11, 2009   Last Updated: March 18, 2009

In replacing GW Bush as President, Barack Obama has, by default, improved the United States. Regardless of what the new president does from here on out, unless he defies his own intelligent and inclusive nature, our country and the world will be a much better place to live than it has been since the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

Led by Newt Gingrich and inspired by their "Contract With America," the Republican Revolution launched a divisive war against the American people. "Divide and conquer" was an operating motto that was applied to race, class, gender, and political and religious leanings. If you weren't straight, white, conservative, Christian and registered Republican, you would not be included except to make donations.

During Bill Clinton's besieged presidency, the Republican led Congress rigidified the already existent split between the left and right in the US. The moderate, middle ground was pulled far right and out of the morass emerged the church of unregulated capitalism. In an environment where anything goes, money solidified its position as the God of gods and the world's decent began a quicker slide into darkness. Republicans took the leash off of mega-capitalism and terrorism was the armed response.

The culmination of the Republican grab for power, led by a revitalized neo-conservative ideology, opened the door for a leader with few leadership skills and absolutely no sense of America's place in the world or its history. A self-professed non-reader, the public witnessed its leader sit through a three-hour meeting with his staff discussing the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina without asking a single pertinent question. When advised of the attacks on the World Trade Center, he froze.

The final gift from Bush and the Republican dismantling of restraints on capitalism is the current (2009) world economic crisis. Even before his inaugeration, Obama did more to stem the tide than Bush was doing doling out tax dollars to poorly managed banks without requiring any accountability. The greatest heist of all time continued right on through the last day of Bush's second and final term. And those who gleaned the most from Bush and company's liberation of the common people's treasury - the top one tenth of one percent of the American population - have tax protection allowing them to horde their winnings.

During Bush's reign, a $128 billion Clinton-captained budget surplus became a $490 billion Bush deficit with nothing to show. In eight

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