by J. F. Kelly, Jr. | Coronado
George W. Bush has been visibly aged by eight grueling years of shouldering the nation’s burdens. Most presidencies have been marked by crises of some sort or at least one major game-changing event and his was no exception. The 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington by Muslim fanatics redefined his presidency and dramatically revised his agenda.
Mr. Bush rose to the occasion and America’s response was firm and forthright. The Taliban government in Afghanistan was toppled and a democratic government installed in Kabul. A murderous, tyrannical dictator was removed from power in Iraq and a democratic government installed in Baghdad. Free elections were held in both countries and while the situation in Afghanistan has since deteriorated, requiring an increased U.S. commitment which President-elect Obama supports, the lengthy military campaign in Iraq is at last winding down. While the scope and conduct of the Bush-orchestrated war on terrorism can be debated by reasonable people, it cannot be denied that America has been free from terrorist attack since 9/11. That fact alone should earn Mr. Bush the gratitude of all Americans.
It will not, of course. It is an article of faith among Bush-bashers that his presidency has been an unmitigated disaster. I believe that view, promulgated by liberal democrats, their mainstream media allies and left-leaning academics and pundits, is biased and misguided. I believe that much of the bitterness derived from the notion that Mr. Bush somehow stole the election from Al Gore A solid majority of the voters, nevertheless, returned him to office for a second term.
Most presidents have had some big failures and Mr. Bush certainly had his. But many were the fault, at least in part, of the Congress. Still, as President Harry S. Truman was found of saying, the buck stops with the president. Speaking of Mr. Truman, there was a president who received little appreciation while in office and whose popularity came only after his departure. Truman, utterly unprepared for the responsibilities of running a nation at war, presided over the virtual dismantling of the post-WWII armed forces and left them in a weakened condition for the start of the Korean Conflict. Yet, he is fondly remembered as a hot-tempered but decisive president who made the decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japanese cities, thus ending the war but at a terrible cost in civilian lives. Perhaps history will also judge Mr. Bush less harshly than his critics do today.
Bush-bashing became great sport and will doubtlessly continue as problems encountered by the Obama Administration are blamed on its predecessors. Most of it was harmless enough and Mr. Bush bore it with good nature and humor. He made fun of his own mispronunciations and never attempted to be someone he was not. Critics tried to portray him as somewhat dull-witted, much as they tried to characterize former President Gerald Ford and former Vice-President Dan Quayle. Those who really knew Mr. Bush, however, knew he was the opposite of dull-witted. He graduated from Yale as a history major and earned an MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. Anyone familiar with these programs knows that they don’t produce dull-witted graduates.
But Bush-bashers have done an effective job of demonizing Mr. Bush and some will go to any length to discredit him and his administration. Some of them have actually called for the incoming Obama Administration to investigate and prosecute Bush officials for war crimes related to the conduct of the war against terrorism and specifically involving aggressive interrogations and humiliation of enemy detainees at Abu Ghraib. This is an example of the extremes that partisan politics can lead to. Mr. Obama should distance himself from these nut jobs and make it clear that he will actively oppose such behavior. If government officials are forced to labor under the constant fear of prosecution for decisions made in good faith, how will we find anyone in government willing to make tough decisions that will inevitably be second-guessed?
Mr. Bush must take responsibility for a number of failures, including failing to stop illegal immigration before it got totally out of control and failing to use sufficient force in Iraq to establish security early enough, but after all his plusses and minuses are weighed, the fact remains he kept us safe since 9/11 and for that we owe him thanks. Fair winds and following seas, Mr. President.
CRO
copyright 2008 J.F. Kelly, Jr.
J.F. Kelly, Jr. is a retired Navy Captain and bank executive who writes on current events and military subjects. He is a resident of Coronado, California.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 12:05 am and is filed under Kelly.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply