Bush
Saul
Landau received this report from a janitor at The Heritage
Foundation.
“I’m
absolutely positive history will be kind to this president, who made
the right decisions in a difficult time for this nation.”
-Karl Rove, 5/7/08
George
W. Bush received warnings before 9/11 from foreign intelligence
sources and his hyperactive national security official Richard Clarke
even wrote a memo to National Security Adviser Condi Rice about bad
Muslims planning to stage a terrorist attack. Like Harry Truman from
Missouri, Bush’s motto was also “show me.” That’s truly
American.
After
Bin Laden’s gang struck, Bush made two wise decisions. On October
4, 2001, he told the public to go shopping and take their families to
Disneyworld instead of discussing the terrible event. Bush would
“counter the shockwave of the evildoer” by offering more tax cuts
and rebates. Bush followed his gut not the supposed “intelligence.”
Like all great Presidents, he went to war with Afghanistan and then
Iraq.
Five
thousand plus dead GIs and tens of thousands wounded and hundreds of
thousands with post traumatic stress disorders: that’s nothing
compared to the potential damage of terrorist attacks on major U.S.
cities. The dead, wounded and displaced Iraqis all paid the price for
freedom. U.S. taxpayers have shelled out $1 trillion or more for
Bush’s wars, peanuts if you think how it afforded us possible
security.
Bush
leveled with the public. He thought Iraq possessed large quantities
of anthrax and other poisons along with missiles to deliver the
chemical and biological weapons. He believed Saddam Hussein had
connections to Al-Qaeda and was planning to buy uranium from Niger to
make nuclear weapons program. Later, when he discovered the
exaggeration of his claims, Bush had the aplomb to joke at a press
correspondents’ dinner about not finding the weapons of mass
destruction.
This
kind of self-confidence helps Presidents set difficult spending
priorities.
For
example, Bush took $70-plus billion out of the Army Corps of
Engineers budget for repair and maintenance of levee systems in
Louisiana and invested it in Iraq. That meant putting national
security before the needs of a few thousand insignificant people (no
racial intentions) in New Orleans. Some bleeding hearts still berate
Bush for sitting around his ranch and playing video golf while
Hurricane Katrina destroyed lives and property in New Orleans and
other Gulf Coast centers; or they fault him for his absence of
leadership in the rebuilding effort there. What good would Bush’s
presence have done in New Orleans? Why expect a president to stand up
to the mighty force of Nature’s hurricanes and then assume
responsibility for people losing their lives? That’s what’s wrong
with liberals: they don’t understand that the Katrina victims have
to assume responsibility for their own lives and future, the ones who
survived anyhow. And President’s need time for relaxation!
Another
typical assault on the good President relates to his apparent
penchant for helping the rich. Why did Ronald Reagan get praised for
his trickle-down economics and poor W get blamed? What’s wrong with
helping the rich get richer?
Sentimentalists
complain that “the middle class” (a euphemism for all who aren’t
rich) must confront rising prices, get tossed out of their houses and
suffer daily fear about impending job loss and the parade of horrors
that follows the notorious pink slip. As if the President could do
anything about this!
The
Democrats fault Bush for favoring the insurance companies and giant
pharmaceutical corporations rather than forcing socialism down the
throats of the public. He explained on several occasions that
hospital emergency rooms continue to take people in need of care. My
God, the pinkos act as if we’re a nation of wusses instead of a
strong, proud people capable of bearing a little pain from time to
time.
One
of the most pitiful complaints relates to the breakthrough G.W.B made
in reforming our broken educational system. He made “No Child Left
Behind” into a national slogan. And
Congress
didn’t adequately fund it and the partisans blamed the White House.
W deserves credit. “Rarely is the question asked,” he told a
Florence, South Carolina audience, “Is our children learning?”
(January 11, 2000). Four years later, he followed up on that insight.
On January 23, 2004, he said, “The illiteracy level of our children
are appalling.”
He
was right, as he was on the environment. On June 8, 2005, he informed
the heads of the G8 countries: “See, there’s a lot of things
we’re doing in America, and I believe that not only can we solve a
greenhouse gas, I believe we will… I look forward to sharing that
which we know here in America with not only the G8 members, but
equally importantly, with developing countries.”
Almost
a year later, on May 22, 2006, he addressed “the environmental
debate.” He said: “My answer to the energy question also is an
answer to how you deal with, you know, the greenhouse gas issue. And
that is new technologies will change how we live and how we drive our
cars, which all will have the beneficial effect of improving the
environment.” It’s not the syntax, but the sentiment that counts.
He continued:
“And
in my judgment, we need to set aside whether or not greenhouse gases
have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects, and focus
on the technologies that will enable us to live better lives and, at
the same time, protect the environment.”
Could
anyone have said it with greater clarity? Yet his detractors accuse
him of ignoring science and impeding the protection of the air, water
and soil. Socialistically inclined elements even imply that Bush
obstructed environmental protection to allow his oil company buddies
to make more money. When W found out that Ken Lay, CEO of ENRON,
might have overstepped the windy side of the law, he refused to call
him Kenny Boy any more, just to show he had lost affection.
Most
important, Bush left a democracy legacy in the Middle East. Iraqis
may suffer the suicide bombings, epidemics, corruption, and religious
and ethnic squabbles, but they have freedom. Iraqis may not have
adequate drinking water, or proper sewage systems — shock and awe
did their job — but freedom doesn’t come cheap. Sure, Iraqis
experience high levels of unemployment and several million have fled
the country. During our revolution 100,000 Tory supporters fled to
Canada. And we only had some 3 million people at the time.
Loyalty
is the Bush family’s key virtue. Loyal supporters got rewarded with
high offices in the Justice Department, for example. Bush didn’t
care if they were competent. Loyalty for Bush trumped even the sacred
cause of democracy. To reward our loyal ally, Israel, Bush pushed
free and fair elections in Gaza in 2006. He didn’t think the
terrorists, Hamas, would win against the well-behaved, albeit corrupt
and thuggish Fatah. W logically blamed Hamas for the 600 plus deaths
they’ve thus far suffered from our brave Israeli allies’ rocket
and missile attacks. Indeed, these terrorists have the nerve to
actually live in the same places as their wives and children.
Bush,
a typical and rightfully stubborn American, defied world opinion by
invading Iraq. He didn’t flinch when the costs rose over a trillion
dollars by asking if we could really afford to fight in Afghanistan
and Iraq while simultaneously offering the best of our citizens —
after all, God allowed them to accumulate wealth — a substantial tax
break.
ACLU
types derided Bush for letting NSA spy on citizens and condoning
torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Should he have coddled
terrorists and ignored security threats? Not George W. Bush!
Some
have already compared W with great Presidents like Millard Fillmore
and James Buchanan. Time will tell whether W equaled or surpassed
their performances. Fillmore presided over the Compromise of 1850,
which included the Fugitive Slave Act, requiring the federal
government to help return runaway slaves. Support for the Compromise
cost him the Whig Party nomination for the presidency, but in 1856 he
courageously ran again on the Know-Nothing Party platform, featuring
mainly anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant planks.
James
Buchanan, a northern Democrat who sympathized with the South, beat
him. Southern states began declaring secession in those pre Civil War
years. Buchanan, also a decider, declared
secession
illegal. He also opposed using force to stop it. He won great praise
from the national association of handwringers.
George
W. Bush will get no such award. He declared “Mission Accomplished”
soon after his war mission had begun. His verbally premature
ejaculation will win him eternal kudos for chutzpah. Mexicans in
Texas refer to people with that trait as “huevones.” Sounds like
a compliment!
