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The Past Is Over

Helena Keefe recently held a speech writing contest with the following premise.

"Can you imagine a speech given by president Bush that would convince you that he has had a change of heart and could actually be the president of your dreams?  It is all too easy to criticize our president and his administration. Life changing events (often of the extremely painful variety) force us to reevaluate our values and actions. What if something like this happened to our president. What if he were humbled in some way which caused a profound change in his outlook on life and his role as the leader of our country - turning the aggressive posturing of an all-attack-all-the-time leader into a gentler, wiser soul determined to demonstrate the power of honesty and vulnerability."

The winner of the contest received a $50 prize and the speech was recorded by a Bush impersonator.  The winners were five students from a San Francisco Elementary School and the five audio recordings are brilliant.  My personal favorite is Zoe Baker, who peppered her speech with Bush asking, "are you intimidated?" as well as series of 'nicknames' I might start using.