I don't like the massive amounts of money we spend on foreign soil either. But the war in Iraq would be money well spent if it could be brought to a successful conclusion. A tall order I agree. 200 billion dollars is a lot of money but sometimes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Just because something is difficult doesn't mean we should try to tackle the problem.

Regarding the surplus money when Bush took office. There wasn't any. The national debt was growing when Clinton was in office and is still growing now. There may have been a balanced budget or a surplus in the budget for a year or two but this was due to economic reasons and not anything the President did. Remember the President does not spend any money at all period. All the President does is sign or veto any bill that congress sends him. It's congress that spends the money. The economy goes up and down in cycles and there is not much anyone can do to change it. All the President can do is give tax cuts which Bush has done. But even this is a short term solution.

Bush is a poor speaker that's for sure. But I don't think he says silly things. I would rather have a President that is a poor speaker but says/does the right things than a President that is a good speaker that says/does the wrong things.