I am a senior at Stanford who was among the over 1,000 protestors at Stanford University on Friday, April 21st. I'm writing my first diary because I believe what happened at Stanford University was indicative of the anger and outrage felt by most Americans and the utter contempt with which our President views the voting public (or at least those who don't vote for him).
The President's Press office released to the NYT and other outlets that Mr. Bush diverted from his planned meeting at the Hoover Institution and met with Hoover Fellows at former Secretary of State George Schultz's house in the faculty ghetto (the Stanford term for the significant area of campus where most faculty live) because students blocked Mr. Bush from getting to Hoover Institution. This is complete and utter bullshit.
The fact of the matter is that Mr. Bush was given a clear and open path to access the Hoover Institution that students peacefully respected. Over 500 students, however, lined the gates opening a route to this back entrance and 500 other students stood behind gates to the front entrance. Bush didn't go to Hoover because the image of 1,000 people protesting his visit was politically disadvantageous.
In my four years at Stanford, I have never seen the student body rally around an event as much as they did around Mr. Bush's visit. Activists fighting for a multinational intervention force in Darfur, for choice, against the Iraq war, and for the environment came out in full force to let the President know he has failed us. In what has become all too common with this presidency, Mr. Bush avoided the protests and any inkling of acknowledgement of dissent.
To avert one's eyes from those that disagree is to express an arrogance and self-assurance so deep as to border upon pathology. Mr. Cheney wants all TV's turned to Fox News, Mr. Bush doesn't read a newspaper, rallies only contain selected Bush-sympathizers. When did the American people elect a king?
Events like that at Stanford have now become minor because President Bush has so radically redefined our expectations of the Presidency. When one lies about a war, spies on the public, and tortures people, avoiding a protest seems minor. The fact of the matter is that there was a time when this was a news story because we expected more from a president.
Mr. Bush, we expected more. So thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for bringing honor and integrity back to the office of the President. (By the way, if you want to join a San Francisco protest of Bush's inaction on stopping the genocide in Darfur, head over to www.ourpledge.org).
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/23/31223/3905 
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