Save face.

Okay, now it’s just getting embarrassing.

It’s no secret that the current president and administration are not my favorite. I’m so tired of getting so angry at the self-centered, self-righteous, arrogant, nepotistic, abusive, and disrespectful policies. The president or a member of his administration speaks and I feel my face contort and hear my mother saying, “You keep making that face it’s going to stay that way.” Please, please let me make it until January 2009 without my face staying that way.

It’s pretty safe to say that George W. Bush will go down in history as one of the worst presidents the country has ever had. The Harris Poll, as reported in Wall Street Journal on April 26, has the president’s current approval rating at 28 percent. The poll reporting the highest approval rate, a Rasmussen Report, has Bush’s approval rating at 39 percent (44 percent were polled as strongly disapproving, 15 percent somewhat disapproving, 20 percent somewhat approving, and 19 percent strongly approving). Even the GOP admits that Bush’s “approval rating has stayed below 40 percent for the seventh consecutive month.” My favorite quote from this article: “White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told the newspaper that the president pays little attention to polls.” Phew! Why would we want a president to who listens to what the American people want?

The disgrace that is the U.S. government causes furrowed brows across seas as well. This article by Walter Ellis in the Belfast Telegraph titled “629 Days to Bush to Go” (from May 2) is testament to the international frustration at how Bush Administration incompetence affects not just the United States but the world.

The hurricane Katrina disaster that was not Katrina’s fault, his poor domestic policy, his more than poor foreign policy, the Republican scandals tied to his administration, the illegal firings of federal judges and the administration’s “losing” of all incriminating e-mails, the wire tapping, the disrespect and disregard he shows to not just other countries but to his own country, the lies, the manipulation, the war crimes, the failure to find Osama bin Laden, and the Iraq war are a few examples of Bush’s greatest hits. All presidents have their flaws. All administrations make mistakes. But knock it off already!

I’ve never been president (news flash), nor do I want to be, so I do not deny what an incredibly difficult job it must be. Of course nobody would get a 100 percent approval rating in the United States today, not even (or especially?) Jesus. Of course anyone in the position would make mistakes. This is human, normal, and expected. But so is admitting those mistakes and trying to fix them. Perhaps Bush and Buddies do not think any mistakes were made; they cling stubbornly and arrogantly to their failing policies, and, after all, pay “little attention to polls.” As Mr. Ellis in the Belfast Telegraph put it, “Few any longer believe a word the [p]resident says. It is assumed that he is living in a world of his own. At the same time, Bush has stopped listening to anybody except the voices in his head.” The last sentence just may be facetious, but doesn’t it make you wonder?

It’s very hard to admit to making mistakes, and it’s even harder to fix them after you’ve admitted they’ve been made. I understand why Bush doesn’t want to admit he was wrong, and wants to give the ideas he promoted for years more time to work. I’m stubborn and proud too. But I like to think that I’m at least a little compassionate, and maybe even little logical—two characteristics glaringly lacking in the Bush presidency. If Bush were a baseball player and his presidency were his at bat, I’d surrender with a sigh and wait for the strikeout. It’s hope I lack now. I wish I could be more like my youth group, who would cheer “We believe in you!” as they do when any of our players, the good and especially the not-so-good, go up to bat. They mean it when they say it, and sometimes the batter with the lowest batting average will hit a home run.

Maybe it’s our fault. We did let him get away with way too much for way too long. Now that we’re finally getting upset, he doesn’t know what to do but to do what he’s been doing all along (that has worked all along/reelection). But please, for the sake of my country and of my generation dying in Iraq, try something else. My face is going to stay this way.