George W. Bush is the Most Influential Person of 2006

The most influential person of 2006 is without a doubt the president of the United States of America, Mr. George W. Bush. No other person affected the country this year in more ways both negatively and positively. What makes it interesting is that the positives were mostly unintentional. The word "influential" suggests that the person's actions had a specific purpose and objectives were met, or in most cases of this annual title, the goal was met and taken to a new level.

For example, Jon Stewart is another obvious candidate for this award. His goals are clear, and his message is clear. There is no question what Jon Stewart is all about, and his actions produced a clear result. He could very well be considered a large contributor to the party change in Washington. Mr. Bush's objectives are pretty clear as well and there is no question what he is all about. However, his representation of his beliefs influenced the country in the opposite way. His actions were so poor, he set such a negative example for conservative views and the Republican Party, and he created such incredible distrust in our foreign policy.

Bush influenced the country to be in favor of everything that he is not. Bush caused the country to believe anything is better than what we have right now. He lost the country's trust and the trust of his own party. In fact, he even provided Jon Stewart with an enormous amount of material which in turn increased his show's popularity, which played a large role in the increase in popularity of the Democratic Party. When the democrats took over the majority a few weeks ago, there was no special democratic initiative, policy, or promise that could be pegged as the reason for the majority change.

As per usual, the Democratic Party did very little to influence this change. An argument could be made that the new democrat representatives in office should get the award for most influential people this year. It would be an easy argument if you could point to any actions taken by them that could be considered influential besides being the other party to the party that nobody wants. When the country needed change but didn't have the proper people in charge of making that change happen, Bush stepped to the plate.

He provided the influence needed to shift the country's views just enough in the other direction to put people in Washington that may not be influential by themselves, but have the right minds for the job. The Democrats may not have the stuff to get the job, but they have the stuff to get the job done. Thanks to President Bush's inability to represent his side of the argument, the opposing side won by default, which changed the face and the objectives of the United States government. For that, Mr. George W. Bush should be considered the most influential person of the year.