Why is our president REACTIVE instead of PROACTIVE on important issues?

We, as americans, need to understand that we are not alone in the world of gas or oil need, the rest of the world has the demand that is getting higher and higher every day. This drives the price up overall. There have been things that the federal govt has done to "help" such as saber rattling with Iran that has pushed the prices up. Big oil is the blame, along with the WHOLE federal govt, not just the republicans. Americans fail to realize that gas prices in many countries in Europe have been over $4 a gallon for a long time

2. The president reacted to the middle east after 9/11, after a democratic president ignored the problem for 4 years prior. You can't blame all that on the current admin.

He reacts by sending troops into countries, people b****, he does nothing, people will b****. That's just the way americans are, they want what they want, when they want it.

I think the word is spoiled. We have had it so good for so long that we think that it's owed to us. How many Americans would be willing to go back to the days of WWII when there were meatless Tuesdays, you couldn't drive on certain days, had to make tires, and cars last because the companies were making tanks, rifles and other items instead of cars, and clothes.

3. You can't keep anything transparent today with the access to news these days. If something is tried to remain hidden, people scream he's hiding something, if everythings out in the open, people scream, "we didn't need to know that"

The ever changing world of international politics when you're dealing with nations is a very difficult arena to play in, most is reactive. You can only really be proactive when you can predict what is going to happen. And predicting what a country like Iran, Iraq, or North Korea is difficult at best.

Well, the reason why Bush is now calling for an "investigation" into possible price gouging is because this is an election year, and thanks partly to the gas prices, the Republicans aren't very popular. If the Republicans lose one or both houses of Congress, Bush might be held accountable for once. And since the major oil companies are such big contributors to the Republican Party, I seriously doubt that any "evidence" of price gouging will be found. Bush is just spouting out more empty rhetoric.

Bush doesn't care about terrorism. He cares about making his friends in the oil and defense industries happy. He also had personal grievances against Saddam Hussein, and he saw the 9/11 attacks as a golden opportunity to make up an excuse for invading Iraq. If Bush really cared about terrorism, Osama bin Laden, the true culprit behind the 9/11 attacks, would have been caught by now.

Bush is not alone in this manner of operating. Very many people live their lives this way, taking action only after the crisis rather than adopting creative action to prevent the crisis. Many common human health problems, for example, are the result of behavioural choices which adversely affect health.

What is required is thinking outside the box, an ability to see the situation in its entirety, and possession of enough knowledge and wisdom to set a course for a better direction.

And for that, a holisitic education, an process of education which trains the student to think creatively and independently is crucial. Education today consists of not much more than memorization and regurgitation of information for the purpose of future employment.

Most of us are the product of that outmoded form of information-oriented education, and thus we sometimes live our lives, following patterns and behaviours by rote rather than from a deep and thoughtful consideration of what life is about and how we'd choose to live it if we had better knowledge.

Any society has at its basis a certain compendium of knowledge. People all over the planet are coming to realize that something is drastically amiss, that somehow life is not lived in the best way, the most intelligent and knowledgeable way. All the human problems affecting societies are evidence of that.

The problem is essentially a spiritual one, a matter of awareness and consciousness. When the life is given over to the blind and relentless pursuit of only what can be seen and touched—to the exclusion of the pursuit of what all the great saints throughout the ages have sometimes called "the kingdom of heaven within", then life is lived only on the surface values. The mind is constatly engaged in activity and becomes tired, resricted in its range of thinking, and life goes out of balance.

If, on the other hand, life is lived in a balanced way, with attention paid to spiritual as well as material pursuits, then life takes on a very different dimension, the mind does not become small and limited, and creativity blossoms.

At the root of the existence of every human is an inner level of intelligence which is the exact same intelligence as that which orders the whole universe with perfection. It is only that education has thus far failed to provide humanity with the means for regularly accessing, developing, and strengthening that intelligence. So in modern life, we have lost our connection to nature, to the universe, to that deepest level of our own self, the very source of thought. And it is from our thoughts which all our actions come.

Spiritual techniques which can give the mind rest and expansion are available and practiced the world over. The Transcendental Meditation technique is one such practice. It is successfully used in various levels of education throughout the world, where it is shown to do quite a lot to improve the students' ability to learn, think, get along with their friends, helping to solve the most puzzling difficulties which have surfaced in modern education.

The human mind is a fabulously capable instrument, with a range as wide as the universe, and within the brain is all the intelligence and wisdom needed to create a life that can bring heaven on Earth. It is only necessary to learn a tool such as the Transcendental Meditation technique, which allows the mind to regularly and reliably dive into its own silent foundation—and from there, the mind comes out imbued with energy, intelligence, and creativity to take action which will be more intelligent and create all good effects, short and long term.

This is by no means an exhaustive answer, but I did hope to bring some fresh perspective to a question about which a lot can be said. As to why a nation has the kind of government it does—that, too, is a reflection of the state of knowledge in that society...

Neither he nor his government have the mental agility and forsight to deal with issues as they become apparent, preffering to bury thir heads in the sand, or busy themselves elsewhere until things either blow over or hit flashpoint.

The Middle east issue that you bring up is slightly missguided, as America have been notoriously active in the Middle-East since the end of the 2nd world war, fighting cold war battles in Afghanistan, and most ammusingly actually funding the talliban and helping them seize power. (Any good history website can give you info in much more detail), and lets not forget the firsrt Gulf War.

Unfortunatley he is a total clown who has one basic style of governance, which is to deflect interest in domestic pollitics by busying himself in the affairs of other countries, thus giving the impression that he is a selfless martyr to his champion cause (namely freedom*****), and that although America will always be number 1 in his heart, he also needs to heal the world.

This of course is total crap (see keyoto agreement/drilling for oil in allaska etc...), but what it means is that issues get glossed over and only realy come to the fore when they become serious issues. Bush has admitted he is a 'War Pressident' and it is clear to anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing him orate in public that he is as mentally competent as a trained chimp (I thoroughly recomend reading 'Bushisms' - a compendium of some classic Dubbya moments). It is a very real and frightening case of the lunatics taking over the assylum.

**** Anyone who doubts that he is a complete farce as an international diplomat should take a second listen to his recent meeting with the leader of China (a COMMUNIST country), during which he praises China for its free markets and the freedom of its people ?!?!?!?

To address the overall theme, noone has a crystal ball. Second, you accord to the office of presdent too much power, influence, and authority. The job of the executive branch itself it to execute the laws and policies of the legislature. Congress would take most of the blame for any lack of foresight.

In fairness to congress, however, the presidnet under war powers does have a pre-emptive proxy to act on behalf of national interests.

In regard to the price increase of gasoline, when we bought gas for 1.89 in Texas crude was 37.80 a barrell. Now crude is 74.30 a barrell and in Texas we pay 3.18 for gas. As crude got expensive, gas prices went down in relation to the price of crude. The job of regulating interstate commerce in in Article One of the Constitution, and is the responsiblility of congress. The president should butt out, and should not even be involved now. It is the authority and perogrative of congress. When congress makes up their mind, the president should execute the laws they impose. The only thing the president should do is to find if any regulations of the executive branch are causing an undue burden on the free market of gas prices, and should move by executive order to eliminate the heavy foot of government.

9/11 is not the first mid-east issue for America. Carter wimped out and would not let the marines defend the US Embassy after Carter betrayed the Shah of Iran. Because of Carter's action, and lack of resolve to act to defend the USA and our citizens, America became a paper Tiger. As nice a Regean was in his covert cold-war actions in Afgansitan, he still pulled our troops out of Lebbanon. GB Sr. acted with firm resolve against Saddam, then pussy-footed around helping the Iraqi revolution from toppling Saddam after Gulf War One. Clinton did nothing of signifigance either as our embassies got blown up, the USS Cole was attacked, the Trade center was attacked, and diplomatic personnel were kidnapped and assignated. Remember, after Al Gore protested the election, the turn-over briefing of the Bush Administration was delayed for months. 9/11 was more than five years in logistical planning. After 9/11 Bush essentially changed US policy from re-action to pre-emption, and was criticized for abandoning the policies first started by Carter so long ago. The Bush Doctrine is a policy of Preemption. Essentially his arguement was that the policy of reaction that we had been following was responsible for 9/11, and that with the advent of suitcase nukes and bio-chem weapons, pre-emption must be employed.

In regards to question 3, that is why we have a republic. We elect officials to run the government, and then pay them, so we do not have to worry about it. Of course, you want to keep up on your representative to make sure they reflect your views, but very few americans watch congressional sub-committee's every single day. We are to busy working. In regards to other issues, the presidnet has many limitations on his powers that prevent tyranny.

Covert agents need some cover. Remember, we only hear about the failures of special ops, never the successes. So some things cannot be transparent. However, the president is the Executive branch. It is not his position to determine what is a problem then act without congressional approval. The president can say "this is a problem", ask congress for permission to act, then act. The president acts under war powers and similar pre-emprive legislation only under specific and regulated circumstance.

Before people read too much into me, I am not an apologist. You can take the Republicrats and Democans and throw them all in the same barrell as far as I am concerned. I am a libertarian.

Spellchecker broke down, so please forgive the spelling errors.

Toss up, he was proactive in cutting taxes for the very rich, taking away programs for the poor and reactive to all world affairs.

2. This was Clinton's responsibility for 8 years.

Republicans are reactionary by nature.

Because he's a chimpanzee

They are not very bright.

because he is our no talent *** clown that we call a prez.....gosh