The presidential election is in full swing and both campaigns seem to be pre-occupied with events of 30 years ago. The Republicans want to know if John Kerry was sufficiently injured to merit a Purple Heart and the Democrats want to know if George Bush showed up for work.

All this detracts from the present and if the president is doing a sufficiently good enough job to merit being re-elected.

Let’s look at some of his accomplishments: The Bush administration inherited a balanced budget with a surplus and turned that into a deficit, even before Sept. 11, 2001.

President Bush worked tirelessly to crush New England’s family-owned dairy farms to help out the larger corporate producers.

The president helped oil and coal companies more efficiently pollute New England’s air. Recently, it was announced that after millions of jobs have been lost, one million have been created. My question is: Was it the tax cuts or the billions of dollars the Bush administration is spending with the largest increase in the size of the federal government in 50 years and two wars?

The good news is that those currently old enough to vote don’t have to pay for all this. That will be our children’s problem. Doing a good job? Voters can decide.

Rick Ness, Auburn