The mixed legacy of President George W. Bush
Ξ July 4th, 2008 | → | ∇ My thoughts on... |
George Walker Bush began his two terms as President in 2000 with a rare opportunity to push the conservative agenda to new heights and get positive results in many areas where others had failed. After all, the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, and given his campaign promises to govern as a “compassionate conservative” the stars seemed to finally be in perfect alignment for those who had gone out on a limb by backing him to reap some great rewards for their efforts. But alas, it quickly became apparent that he was going to waste virtually every golden opportunity put before him.
First, let’s consider the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is no question that he did the right thing by sending our troops into Afghanistan to take out the Taliban and shut down the Al-Qaeda training camps after the horrendous attacks they perpetrated on our country on September 11, 2008. Our men and women in uniform did a spectacular job as expected, and they completed their assigned mission in short order.
While the President’s decision to go into Iraq wasn’t nearly as convincing as the one to go into Afghanistan, given the intelligence he had to work with at the time I supported that decision, and I still do. And once again, as expected, our troops kicked butt and took names, and in relatively no time at all they had decimated Saddam Hussein’s military regime and toppled him from power. And that’s where both campaigns should have ended…
But unfortunately, they didn’t. Instead of leaving the Afghans and Iraqis to clean up their own messes, Bush decided to embark on a pair of nation-building experiments that were destined for failure from the start. The mistake he made was simple, yet profound: He believed that the people we had just liberated in those countries would love us and rally around us, and allow us to help them set up a democratic form of government similar to our own. Had he paid attention in his world history class and spent some time watching the evening news he would have realized just how foolish that idea would inevitably turn out to be.
Radical Muslims simply do not see the world (and life in general) as we Americans do, and unfortunately in most Muslim countries the radicals tend to rise to power. Apparently Bush missed the lesson that most of us learned from the events that took place in Iran after the Shah was deposed in 1979.
The President made the ill-fated decision to stay in Iran and Afghanistan long after our work there was done, hoping against all reality to make some new friends and allies in the region. But those folks will never be our friends and they certainly will never be our allies, and Bush should have known that.
We would have been much better off getting out of those countries as quickly as possible, leaving behind only a stern warning: “We took care of business once, and we can and will do it again. Shape up, or we’ll be back and you REALLY won’t like us when the dust settles next time.”
The bottom line is that our military has no equal when it comes to fighting and winning wars, but they are not in the businesses of “keeping the peace” or “nation-building”, nor should they be - especially when the people involved have nothing but utter contempt for our nation and our ideals.
Oh well, enough ranting about the wars…
Domestically, Bush’s legacy has been even more disappointing. He has somehow allowed most of his conservative promises and opportunities to slip right through the cracks. Again, he made a very simple, yet profound mistake: He believed that he could use his power of gentle persuasion to entice enough Democrats to support his proposals to get them through the Congress. Again, he was wrong.
Why? Quite simply, the Democrats absolutely despise him. They believe down in their collective heart that he “stole” the 2000 election from Al Gore (he didn’t of course, but they honestly believe he did). They were bound and determined from January 20, 2000 on to see to it that he failed at everything he tried to do, and for the most part they have succeeded in spectacular fashion.
Unlike President Reagan, Bush was unable and/or unwilling to use the powerful combination of charm and arm-twisting to push his agenda through the Congress. His vetoes have been way too rare and much too ineffective, and he left his conservative allies in Congress hanging in the wind so many times that they all but abandoned him for the last three years of his Presidency.
Worse still, it turns out that he was never a true conservative at all. His stances on illegal immigration, NAFTA, and a host of other crucial issues are about as liberal as they come. And don’t even get me started on the spending spree he has allowed (encouraged?) the Congress to go on during his administration.
I guess by now it’s quite clear that I’m deeply disappointed by the way President George W. Bush has led our nation over the last 7+ years, but there is one shining star in his legacy that pretty much evens out the scales. Whether by design or sheer luck, he managed to appoint and get confirmed two of the finest Supreme Court Justices to ever sit on the bench in Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.
While not quite as conservative as their colleagues Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, they understand very clearly that their role as Supreme Court Justices is to interpret the Constitution literally while abstaining from the natural desire to color their decisions with their own personal beliefs and prejudices. During their short tenure on the court they have proven that they take their jobs very seriously and plan to enforce the law of the land (the U.S. Constitution) instead of trying to make laws of their own choosing. And in my opinion that is much more important than their ideological bents.
So there you have it. As President Bush and his family prepare to head off into the sunset, I wish them well. After all, just being elected to the Office of President of the United States is worthy of deep respect and honor. That being said, it’s too early to tell just how historians will treat the 43rd President, but my guess is their opinions will be somewhat similar to mine: Lot’s of failures, and one overwhelmingly important success.
on July 4th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Commendable!