President Bush Deserves
Our Praise, Not Just History’s
For the partisan crowds and the media hordes that made it their lives’
mission to ravage President George W. Bush’s reputation starting even
before his first inauguration – evidently because he beat Al Gore by a
thin margin – the chorus has not and will never change: George W. Bush
was an awful president, if not the worst we ever had.
For the rest of us, the assessment has been a reasonable mix. Some are
genuinely dissatisfied with Bush’s performance, and others will
predictably defend him to the virtual death. Too many, however, are
leaving it to history, their rationale being that even though they
cannot demonstrate Bush’s successes, history might be able to.
I
started out as a supporter of President Bush. I am most certainly not
one to defend him blindly, because he has, over the years, done much to
push small-government conservatives such as myself far from him. Yet
after eight years, I cannot hide by leaving Bush’s assessment to
history. He deserves our evaluation today – and the result can only be
our thanks and praise to a fine president.
First, it is worth examining the reasons why Bush fell short of being an
exceptional president. His failed experiment with “comprehensive”
immigration reform is a prime factor for most Americans. But most severe
was Bush’s continued enlargement of the federal government. This
includes his unjustifiable increases in spending and the more recent
bailout mammoths. His move to pay for the United Auto Workers’ own greed
with our money, even after congressional rejection of the same, was
nothing short of shameful. His proclamation that “I’ve abandoned free
market principles in order to save the free market system” was
incomprehensible.
Greatly damaging as well was Bush’s refusal to defend himself in an
effective manner. It was clear at the outset that the left and the media
were never going to give him a chance – and they didn’t. Yet he was
thoroughly ineffectual at explaining the urgency of the war on terror
and the necessity of spreading democracy in the lands that breed Islamic
extremism, even though he clearly understood both quite well. Even in
the face of the most vitriolic, scathing and false attacks from
top-ranking Democrats on Iraq, Katrina and imagined scandals, Bush
thought it either unnecessary or futile to defend himself.
Unsurprisingly, his refusal to effectively defend himself
disincentivized his supporters from ardently protecting his reputation
as well.
Bush’s mistakes, however, were far outweighed by his worthy
accomplishments. Having inherited a recession from the Clinton
Administration, Bush cut taxes, spurring the economy into 52 consecutive
months of job growth (a record, yielding 8.3 million jobs) all while
letting Americans keep more of their hard-earned money. Between 2000 and
2007, real GDP saw growth of more than an impressive 17 percent. Bush
also deserves tremendous credit for being a free trader who increased
the number of free trade partners almost five-fold, with a Democratic
Congress unreasonably blocking three more agreements. We also must not
forget that he did attempt to prevent the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
disasters, only to be blocked by congressional Democrats who had cozied
up to them.
Bush also helped pave the way for offshore drilling, which had been long
overdue. He signed a ban on partial-birth abortion that Bill Clinton had
inexplicably opposed, and that was one of many policies that reduced
abortion rates to the lowest since 1974. He had the courage to attempt
meaningful Social Security reform, and even if he did not succeed, he at
least recognized the massive Ponzi scheme and sought to fix it. Bush
also appointed two excellent judges, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, to
the Supreme Court, safeguarding parts of the Constitution for at least a
few more years. Under Bush, crime, youth drug and alcohol abuse,
homelessness, teenage pregnancy and pollution all fell, some quite
drastically.
Bush performed well on domestic issues, but, perplexingly for the New
York Times and its friends, the Texas cowboy was at his best in
conducting foreign policy and fighting the war on terror. Since 9/11,
Bush has captured or killed most of Al Qaeda’s leadership and many of
its foot soldiers. He has liberated Afghanistan from monsters who pulled
out fingernails at the sign of nail polish, opening up a whole new world
for its women. And sure enough, he managed to keep 300 million people in
America unharmed since 9/11, due to policies that obstructed a number of
terrorist plots, caught fanatics, and moved the battle against
radicalism from Manhattan to the Middle East.
Bush took Iraq from the claws of a sadistic tyrant and put it in the
hands of each of 28 million people. Although he made some strategic
mistakes in the process, in the end he managed to plant and grow a
democracy in the very heart of the Muslim world. This has spurred the
growth of democracy in the region: Kuwaiti women have since gained the
right to vote, Egyptians have since been allowed to choose among more
than one presidential candidate, and the Saudis have since gotten a
taste of democracy by voting in municipal elections. Syria finally took
America seriously and withdrew from Lebanon, while Libya ended its
weapons of mass destruction programs, and renounced terrorism, within
months of the Iraq invasion. These events are no coincidence. And they
were brought about with the loss of just over 4,000 heroes – or what in
World War II was called “Wednesday.”
Yet despite the relatively low number of casualties, Bush took each and
every one seriously – as any commander-in-chief must. Bush sent personal
letters to the families of each of the troops who were killed, and
constantly met privately with both these families and hundreds of
wounded veterans. He (and Vice President Dick Cheney) cooked for them,
ran with them, and hung out with them – all outside the presence of
cameras. Some of the details are only beginning to emerge now, even if
they could have boosted Bush’s popularity during his administration.
Bush’s foreign policy has also brought us closer to the world, despite
what foreign policy geniuses like Jimmy Carter might maintain. In
addition to a large number of free trade agreements that strengthened
bonds with over a dozen countries, Bush built strong relationships in
Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, including with key nations such as
China and India. Top allies such as France, Germany, Italy and Canada
all elected pro-American conservative leaders during Bush’s presidency,
and the United Kingdom might be close to doing so as well. Colombia has
come a long way in the past few years and has demonstrated great loyalty
to the U.S., even if top Democrats have refused to grant it a free trade
agreement.
If, eight years ago, we were told that planes would bring down the World
Trade Center, that we would be forced into military conflict in the
Middle East and central Asia, that we would be pummeled by massive,
destructive hurricanes, that oil would reach ludicrously high prices,
and that mortgage and financial disasters would batter the U.S., we
would have thought that America would be close to finished no matter who
the president was.
But Bush’s actions have left us with a strong, stable country that
proudly holds its head high. And he handed all the problems that came to
his desk with admirable principle instead of polls, and with unyielding
integrity instead of scandals. And that is why, even if history might
give him the credit due, I will not wait for it to do so. Thank you,
President Bush. I know that you have served America well.
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