Thank You Mr. President

January 20, 2009

President George W. Bush
The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

It is with great heartfelt gratitude that I write thanking you for your service to the citizens of these great United States of America. I look at your long list of accomplishments while you faithfully served as our President and Commander in Chief

My wife and I thank you Mr. President for your stand on abortion and traditional values, for banning partial birth abortions. Reversing Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy, reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act, By EO, prohibiting federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services and upholding the ban on abortions at military hospitals.

We thank you Mr. President for work on the budget and taxes, specifically two income tax one of which was the largest in world history, your support of the permanent elimination of the death tax. Thank you for turning around an economy that was in recession and further damaged by 9/11, reducing taxes on dividends and capital gains, for increasing the annual contribution limit on education IRA’s from $500 to $2,000 per child.

We thank you Mr. President for your character and conduct as President, your re-introduction of God to many Americans, for reassuring the nation after 9/11 attacks, your work in education and job training, your contribution and efforts to our environment.

We thank you Mr. President for freeing 50 million people who lived in fear under the Dictator Saddam Hussein, your disarming of Libya, being part of the coalition for an Israeli Palestinian peace treaty, we thank you for your wisdom of recognizing that a well armed country is a safe and peaceful one by adding research and development to our arms budget.

We thank you Mr. President for challenging the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities. We thank you for your work on government reform, Health, home security, border enforcement and immigration, your stand on personal responsibility. We thank you Mr. President for keeping us safe for the past 7 years after 9-11

We thank you most of all for being a man of character who while on his journey came to the fork in the road, one path clearly trodden and well traveled, the other over grown and lightly traveled, your character was there to guide you wisely choosing the less trodden, even though harder and very unpopular.

Today Mr. President as you leave office and join the ranks not only of the great leaders of these United States but now you are among the great statesmen of the world. As we reflect back on these great men, I see many similarities between you and them. I start with you leaving office with the lowest approval rating of any US President.

During President Lincolns life he did not exactly have high approval rating either and to reflect back to 1865 The war between the states had just ended there were over six hundred thousand casualties of American fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, countless amputees unable to work, even if there was work to be had, over four million African Americans wondering the streets of our cities looking for employment, the south was in shambles, the textile mills and industries destroyed. The farmers and plantation owners could not even work their own land, hence the practice of share cropping, and let us not forget that the South did not begin to recover for the most part until World War II some seventy five years later. All blamed on a president and belittled by many even by those in his own cabinet, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln like you sir was also criticized for what was considered “extra constitutional measures” but in the end we know the verdict.

Mr. President today you join the elite on stage and seated with you and President Lincoln is Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Reflecting back on the great leaders life, he is only great today Mr. President, but in 1945 let us remember that he was voted out of office, after having kept the Nazi’s at bay. His leadership encouraged the British Commonwealth, Europe the United States and the rest of the free world during Hitler’s Blitzkrieg on Britain and Europe, He gave his people hope, he gave them courage, and he had a plan, which led to victory just like you have had for us. The plan led to their continued enjoyment of freedom, just as yours has kept us free from attack. But yet hardly 14 months later he was voted from office, the British did not want him as their leader anymore, they were lured by Clement Attlee promise of a few shillings a month more in public assistance, what we call welfare. Even the great biblical leaders from the time of Moses and Joshua have faced the same ungrateful attitudes, the people’s memories have been short, once great leaders calm the fears of their people, the people tend to get amnesia and quickly and make demands for more. This seems to be the price Mr. President that is paid for greatness.

Most importantly Mr. President my wife and I thank you for never wavering, for never compromising your values and those of the United States, your uncompromising character and faith, for never lashing out at the liberal media, where lesser men certainly would have. It reminds me of a San Francisco newspaper editorial wrote of Lincolns Gettysburg Address, that it was the foulest piece of rubbish that had ever come from ones mouth; we know the truth today. One hundred and fifty years later the liberal media continues to put its foot in its mouth, thank you Mr. President for staying the course, and for forgiving the few ungrateful whom you have so faithfully served. My wife and I wish you and Mrs. Bush all the best as so many others in this great nation do and we pray that you both have a God filled and exciting retirement from public service.

Thank you Mr. President for your leadership and a job well done,

Mark and Ramonita Lyon