In 19 days, Donald Trump
will become the 45th President of the United States. For the most
part in our history, we have a smooth transition from one president to the
next. There have been only three times in our history where an outgoing
president does not attend the incoming president’s swearing in and subsequent address.
The first was John Adams.
He did not attend the inauguration of his successor, Thomas Jefferson. The
second time was his son, John Quincy Adams who did not attend the inauguration
of his successor, Andrew Jackson, and the third was Andrew Johnson who did not
attend Ulysses S. Grants inauguration.
Most don’t comment publicly about their
successors once they’re out of office. Jimmy Carter is an exception to this. He’s
criticized several presidents, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. George
W. Bush has refrained from saying anything during Obama’s presidency.
Usually, the president
that is leaving is respectful of the incoming president. When George H. W. Bush
lost to Bill Clinton in 1992, he not only helped provide a smooth transition to
Clinton but left him a note in the desk offering encouragement and offering his
counsel if wanted and needed. Clinton had beaten Bush in the election.
In 2000 it was a different
story. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in the election but it wasn’t decided until
35 days after the election. If ever a smooth transition was needed this would
be it. However, when the Bush Administration took over on January 20, 2001 what
they found was graffiti on bathroom walls. Signs defaced calling Bush a thief
for stealing the election since the election was so close. The W’s on the
keyboards were removed. Glue was smeared over desks and drawers. The
presidential seal was stolen from several locations in the White House.
The Clintons themselves
took items from the White House that they weren’t entitled to, including
furniture. They had to return numerous items they weren’t entitled.
When Bush left office, he
was very accommodating for the incoming Obama. Even Obama commented on how well
he and his family were treated by the Bush’s. Even the Bush daughters were
helpful to the young Obama daughters.
While Bush wouldn’t
criticize Obama during Obama’s presidency, Obama still continues to blame Bush
even though he’s just days away from the end of his eight years.
Even now, prior to Obama
leaving office, he’s adding on more executive orders, speeding up and
increasing the number of illegal aliens entering the U. S., blaming the
Russians for Hillary losing the election and now refusing to veto a resolution
against Israel.
Will Obama follow the
previous presidents and not be commenting on Trump’s policies and
decisions? Presidents have left notes
for their successors as well, which may have started with President Reagan
although there seem to be no record of Clinton leaving a note for George W.
Bush.
Since 1993, each President
has dealt with a terrorist attack very early on in their presidency. The first
World Trade Center bombing happened February 26 just over a month after Clinton’s
inauguration. In 2001, the World Trade Center was again attacked along with the
Pentagon and a fourth plane went down in Pennsylvania when passengers took the
plane back from hijackers, saving either the White House or the Capitol
building. This happened just over 7 months after Bush took office.
In 2009, after Obama
took office, on June 1, a recruiting
office was shot at by a terrorist killing one and injuring one and on November
5, 13 were shot and killed at Fort Hood Texas.
It’s not unreasonable to
think that another terrorist attack will be attempted once Trump becomes
president. It would not be beneficial
for a former president to be attacking the current president over other
differences when there are current problems to consider and deal with.
Hopefully, it will be a seamless transition from Obama to Trump, for the good of the country. In 19 days, we’ll start
finding out.
You’re welcome to comment.
Brett
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