Elizabeth Hovde Nov. 6: An eye on Barack, Bush and Baird

United we stand? Hardly — Both times President George W. Bush won the presidency, his critics and the pundits called him a divider and demanded that uniting Americans be one of his top priorities.

They suggested that Bush had the ability — but not the desire — to unite Americans, dismissing the reality that Americans remain far apart on issues such as education, health care, energy, abortion, taxes and national security.

President-elect Barack Obama won decisively Tuesday, but while his Electoral College win represented a landslide, 46 percent of the popular vote went to Sen. John McCain. That’s nearly half the nation’s voters saying Obama was not the change they desired.

So will those same pundits call on Obama to be mindful of those who did not support him just as persistently and loudly as they rallied Bush? Don’t hold your breath.

Thankfully, Obama just might have the kind of character that this requires. And hopefully McCain voters will give Obama the chance to lead that Bush detractors never gave the 43rd president of the United States. McCain’s gracious and generous concession speech ought to help in that regard.

If Obama really wants to win folks over, he could use that election-winning charisma of his to raise as much money as he did while campaigning and then dole it out in equal portions to each American. (Redistribution of wealth is good, right?)

Speaking of Bush … — Today, the only thing people seem united on when it comes to President Bush is their dissatisfaction with him. But whether we liked his solutions or style all of the time, Bush is due some thank-you cards. He served this country to the best of his ability during turbulent times in American history. It’s amazing this nation is able to produce more than a dozen people every four years who want the often thankless and always tiring job of president. Anyone handed the tragedy of 9/11 is due our appreciation, respect and understanding. Send your thanks to: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500 or e-mail comments@whitehouse.gov.

Baird is back — U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, also experienced a decisive victory Tuesday. Both Democrats and Republicans in Southwest Washington can find good in that. Baird is a thoughtful lawmaker, even if he doesn’t vote the way conservatives (or even liberals) want all of the time. He works hard on relevant, local issues, such as sales tax equity, the Interstate 5 bridge crossing, casino dilemmas and so on.

Baird won despite the TV show “Inside Edition” recently highlighting his Galapagos Islands trip on the public’s dime. (See it at insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyId=2208.)

Watch it. It looks bad. (Worse than reality). Five representatives went to the exotic wonderland, bringing along five aides and some family members. (Baird brought his wife on the trip. He says she paid her own way, except for the military plane flight, which was open to them on a space-available basis).

The group wined and dined in beautiful accommodations. They went snorkeling and scuba diving.

Such expeditions are called fact-finding trips and are not uncommon for D.C. lawmakers. Baird defended what he admitted was a part-work, part-vacation trip paid for by taxpayers as a way to get first-hand insight into unique species and global climate changes.

There is something about seeing things for yourself and how it impacts your opinion on policy matters. After all, it was Baird’s first-hand Iraq experiences that had him supporting a troops surge at a time when the idea was unpopular (the idea proved to be a successful move).

But surely, Baird is a thoughtful enough lawmaker to see that bringing family members on such trips, even if they pay for much of their travel, leaves the public with serious doubts about the trip’s purpose. For that matter, aides should be cut out of the package deal so trips such as this can be as cost-effective as possible.

Now that Baird is staying put, he should lead the way in minimizing suspicious-looking travel on the public’s pocketbook.

This trip just looked too good to be called work.

Elizabeth Hovde’s column of personal opinion appears each Thursday. Reach her at ehovde@earthlink.net.