I feel a sensation somewhat like relief as George W. Bush slowly fades out of the public limelight and into whatever history will make of him. It’s not because I feel that the country is “on the right track” now, or that our future is somehow better or safer without our former president. It’s the opposite.
I feel relief because the poor guy needs a break. For the last eight years, he has had to deal with the kind of media attention that drives celebrities crazy on a good day, increasingly negative remarks about him, and all this while running a country that was first under attack, then in a war, and finally in a recession.
It’s no wonder Mr. Bush has retreated back Texas, not speaking out about the current administration. Not making waves. Even now there are still those in politics or the media who want to put a final death blow in his legacy – for political gain, perhaps. And yet, George W. Bush doesn’t strike me as someone who cares about what his legacy is. But I do! Because the man does not deserve to be vilified in this way.
I admit, I was a Bush supporter from Day 1 – sort of. Right after his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination in 2000, I signed on to his general philosophy. He hit the ground running in 2001, and in his first 100 days accomplished leaps and bounds, ending up with the same approval rating our current president had in his first 100 days.
I remember Bush dealing with the American airplane that crashed in China. He managed to get our people and our plane back without causing a war. I was only 16, but I was impressed.
Then, in September, disaster hit. We all remember. And once again the president leaped into action. For comparison purposes, I wonder, if a similar disaster occurred today, how safe we’d feel with the current president. Bush’s ratings soared, and the whole country got behind him to make sure we felt safe.
Slowly those actions spiraled downhill…as time distanced us from the disaster of September 11th, we began to question, “Did we overreact?” And yet, whether the answer is yes or no, the question is still much like Monday morning quarterbacking. Or perhaps we should say, “If we had not taken those measures, where would we be today?” I think that question is a lot more revealing. I don’t think there would be the same level of security, or materialistic questions about the economy. We’d still be afraid to fly.
And there was the inevitable Iraq war – no weapons of mass destruction. At the time, Bush did the best he could with the information he had. Remember (how soon we forget), Sadaam was not behaving like an innocent man. To this day, I would say he either was hiding something, or that he just knew that the war would eventually tear our country apart. Either way – an enemy was eradicated.
We knew it would be a long road going in. The famous, “Mission Accomplished” speech – well, it really was all about how we were only halfway there…perhaps less than halfway. But that’s not what gets remembered.
I remember how we were all so supportive of our soldiers and would do anything for them. There are still fundraisers, drives for supplies, and thank-yous sent out. But the vivacity has toned down almost to the Clinton-era levels. Soldiers will always be honored wherever they go. But was it our guilt that caused us to turn on Bush and the war? As Americans, we felt guilty for going on with our lives, for feeling about other things? And so, in order to make those guilty feelings disappear, those of us who were not hot or cold became lukewarm. And the lukewarm people became anti-war, until slowly the concept of a longer project to bring about a free Iraq disappeared.
I was always a fan of President Bush’s social agenda, and I will be frank. He never accomplished the one thing I wanted him to do – social security reform. So if anyone should be complaining about his legacy, it should be me. But I know the truth. The war and our security bought Bush a second term in office (in a near-landslide election). But by the time he was able to turn back to the domestic agenda, congress had filled up with partisan Democrats. For months, dragging into years, they prevented real, meaningful legislation from being passed. And what did pass was always watered down from its original intent. Both sides piled bills high with pork.
If the public became upset that President Bush was “lame duck” or that the Republican congress wasn’t doing anything valuable, it was only because the “Republican congress” was nothing of the sort. Having two parties and branches to the government has been one of our strengths in America – checks and balances. But if things are too balanced well…have you ever seen a balanced scale? It doesn’t move. Nothing happens!
And finally, in salvaging Bush’s legacy, let’s think about the barrage of negative media he had to deal with. I remember how he handled difficult press conferences (Donald Rumsfeld even more so) – catching reporter spin to answer the “real” question, and telling things like they were. Even so, when the press hates you, when congress hates you, when the world hates you, and when even your own countrymen start to hate you, there is a little bit of psychological warfare going on.
I think that if President Bush’s approval rating had been 3% for his entire time in office, he still would have behaved the same way. He was not the type to really care what people thought about him, or let that get in the way of getting things done.
So what will history make of Bush? Well, it depends on who writes it, really.
But then, what will history make of Obama, or Clinton, or George H.W. Bush? None of these men will ever be a George Washington or an Abe Lincoln. Time will tell if Obama will become a Truman, Roosevelt , or Reagan. The events of September 11th ensured that George W. Bush’s presidency will be mentioned, and how he responded to it. And we will see if the Iraq war is still in full swing in 400 years.
Ultimately, I think any of these recent president will go the way of so many presidents. The events of their presidency that are important to the nation will be remembered. But their day to day lives, their smaller initiatives (No Child Left Behind) will be left for trivia buffs and special research projects. My comparison would be President Taft. When I went to his museum in Ohio this fall, I was amazed by the man! He was smart, he was accomplished (lawyer, teacher, president, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), and he built up the Philippines! But he will always be remembered as the president who couldn’t fit in the White House bathtub.
So will it be with George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
But in the near history? Looking back at all eight years, at everything that happened and at everything he did…I say, “Well done George Bush! You did the best that you could with what you had. You always did what you thought was the right thing. And you put this country ahead of yourself for eight long years!”
He deserves a break.
But more than that, he deserves a round of applause.
No comments:
Post a Comment