Dear Editor:

I'm always amazed at how partisan this site can become. It's a firm reminder that, like all bodies, the Body of Christ requires a diversity of members to come anything close to an accurate impression of anything.

I'd like to respond to Tom Hobson's comment, "What is truly repugnant is the eight years of venom, blind hate, and false witness to which George W Bush has been subjected. History will vindicate Bush... History will not be kind to Obama..."

It is ironic that on this day of memorial, 9/11, I am reminded that we Americans did not all experience the same shared trauma, let alone learn the same lessons. Maybe it's because I was a political independent with no faith in either mainstream party before 9/11/01.

Maybe it's because I supported the efforts of President George W. Bush long after "The Pile" downtown stopped smoldering, while the rescue and recovery efforts of our citizenry continued. I always believed that our Constitution would protect us, and that the political parties were largely interchangeable at a national level, their rhetorical differences of importance only to their political bases. How much harm can one president really do, anyway? There's so little time, and so much inertia.

The last eight years proved me wrong. After 9/11 got me to pay attention, I participated in community services and organized discussion groups ranging from Islamic history to "Just war" theory.

Even as we learned and healed, I, too, heard the venom, blind hate, and false witness wielded as a tool by the Bush administration itself. I watched the coming trainwreck with transfixed horror, while our nation became consumed with a virulent admixture of arrogance and incompetence that pandered to the uninformed... those who were just like me. In the American form of democracy, decisions were made on my behalf to salve our angry, vengeful hearts at the expense of our moral high ground, our national security, and our Constitution itself. We began as innocent victims, but we charged away from the mind of Christ, even as the secular term "Christian" began to take on connotations of bigotry, injustice, violence, and ignorance. I soon found myself defending America, defending the Gospel, and defending scripture on a daily basis. It's curious how faith grows most when challenged.

The last eight years seemed like a wakeup call for America. Still, the current administration is closer to our nation's center by only a few degrees, albeit with the image of higher moral and intellectual integrity. Maybe I wasn't that wrong after all. How much harm can one president do?