The President In Context

---*

Depending on which fiction you believe, the President has Approval numbers at varying degrees of disappointment. RINOs, overpaid columnists and media hairpieces, as well as fair-weather pansies of all stripes are fleeing all contact with George W. Bush, in the moronic belief that this will advance their careers or show them as some sort of reasonable mind, when in fact it merely confirms their cowardice in the face of the fight, or at least their personal hypocrisy when it comes to remembering debts of honor and responsibility.

It is therefore no surprise to see Liberals already replaying one of their fave lies; that George W. Bush is somehow the ‘worst’ U.S. President ever. The most recent example can be found in the pages of Rolling Stone, where formerly sober-minded Sean Wilentz panders to his own psychosis. Jay Cost has already addressed the faults and blunders in Mr. Wilentz’s article effectively, but he does not address the question of Bush’s deserved ranking. So, having the sort of mind I do, and with reckless disregard for the dangers of discussing the merits of a President while he is still in office, I believe the case can be made not only to defend Dubya against the inane charge that he is some kind of failure, but more, has laid the foundation and indeed additional work of substance towards a legacy to which persons named Clinton or Carter can only envy.

When historians grade a President, they do not, despite the pretense, actually agree on the criteria. This is not only because the context of an Administration is important to understanding its worth, but it also allows such academics as Wilentz to pretend to objectivity, where an apples-to-apples comparison would flatly prove the bias or outright prevarication which commands the mind of Liberal Academia, which is to say the mainstream of professional Historians. Those who do cite a qualification often fall onto subjective opinion, such as 'Was the President Good or Bad for the Nation?'. After all, we already see Liberals trying to somehow spin Bill Clinton as a good President, even though it is impossible to find a major initiative introduced or supported by Clinton which substantively improved the nation. So to my mind, rather than toss out phrases which can and will be spun to mean whatever the writer pleases, I submit we should base grades on comparable work, and on pertinent issues. That is, to properly regard President Washington, we have to be focused on the context of his Administration coming so soon after the Revolution, and the precedents it set. Lincoln, on the other hand, must be seen in the context of the Civil War, its causes, and his effective range of choices. In that light, the proper evaluation of the Presidency of George W. Bush rests in the main on his work in one contest; National Security.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists seized four U.S. airliners and killed thousands of innocent people. As many have observed, that day changed everything for everyone. Therefore, it is unreasonable to judge President George W. Bush on any criteria which does not first and in the main address the War against Global Terrorism. Liberals won’t like this fact, because on that question the only distinction to be considered, is whether Bush has done a ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ job. First, in spite of all the attempts to cast it as a failure, we have been and are winning in Iraq, and this victory is not only demoralizing terrorist groups across the board, it is spurring hope for the growth of democratic republics, as evidenced by changes in Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt, even Saudi Arabia. It should be noted that hostilities with states have decreased markedly since the Bush Doctrine was stated and put into effect. Iran makes noise about nukes, but has made no direct attack against the United States. North Korea is still unstable and Kim Jong Il still deranged, yet the Kor-coms have been distinctly careful not to provoke U.S. forces. The reason is simple; the United States can and will make examples of nations whcih step beyond certain lines, and knowing this, the Axis of Evil these days limits itself to rhetoric. And most of all, people need to be reminded, again and again, that it is no coincidence, no mercy from Al Qaeda, that the United States has not suffered a terrorist attack on its homeland since 9/11. As much as Liberals, Democrats, and Talk Show Hosts try to play it otherwise, that fact is directly credited to the work and vigilance of President George W. Bush.

But let’s go further. No President since FDR has done more than Bush to secure the nation and consolidate its defense. And for all the complaints about the PATRIOT Act, not one legal action has yet demonstrated that a single innocent American has had his rights infringed in any way, a claim which no other President could trump, especially given the needs of the nation. Put simply, George W. Bush has improved the security of the United States against terrorist attack, but has done so without diluting any constitutional rights. That’s a passing grade and then some, folks.

But don’t stop there. Presidents, rightly or wrongly, are also judged on the economy they affect. Take a look at GDP since he took office, the rate of inflation, or Unemployment. Overall and as a trend, GW Bush is doing a darn fine job, and we all know why - income tax cuts. Yes, Liberals will try to discount it, but the effects are there for anyone honest enough to check them out.

What else? How about getting Social Security reform on the table? Sure the Congress weaseled out, but when’s the last time you heard a President bring up the topic? How about Justices Roberts and Alito, and countless federal court appointments which have corrected the slide into Judicial overthrow of the people’s will and Constitutional limits. How about having the courage to discard obsolete or downright dangerous agreements, like Kyoto or the ABM fiction?

Take a look at the policies and doctrines of Clinton, GHW Bush, Carter, or even Reagan, and you will see that Dubya does quite nicely on the counts which matter. Especially when we stretch the record to see how Ford, Nixon, LBJ, JFK, and Eisenhower did. Especially when we see where Truman and even FDR feared to tread. That, as if you did not already know, is why the Liberals have already begun the campaign to mock Dubya’s legacy. They know Bush was so effective and successful, that they would do anything, anything at all, to prevent someone from continuing his work.