The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : No Bush Bumper Sticker?

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Robert Dallek, one of the most hyper-partisan liberal historians around (I'm sure Spectator Readers can name a few more) postulated on NPR yesterday that all important and consequential presidencies can be summed up by a bumper sticker.

From the January 7 edition of Morning Edition:

"The most memorable presidents without question are those who had some kind of catch phrase - a bumper sticker, if you will," Dallek says. "Franklin Roosevelt - the New Deal; John Kennedy - the New Frontier; Lyndon Johnson - the Great Society, Reagan remembered for saying, 'It's morning in America.' What is there with George W. Bush? What's the bumper sticker? I don't know."

Dallek also says that because he has no bumper sticker, Bush will eventually be forgotten. No bumper sticker for George W. Bush???? This revelation comes as a surprise to those of us who had to drive behind cars plastered with vitriolic anti-bush bumper stickers the past eight years.

The truth is, for better or worse, the modern president runs a government staffed by thousands of political appointees spread out across hundreds of agencies, divisions and offices, all engaged in multitudes of occasionally worthwhile initiatives and programs. Though the scope and size of this enterprise pains some of us, consigning a presidency to a simple bumper sticker shows a stunningly simplistic view of something Dallek professes to be an expert on. Either that or he is just participating in the "dumbing down" of history and politics our elites lament and prosper from at the same time.

View all comments (12) | Leave a comment

Forest P. Gill| 1.8.09 @ 6:54PM

I don't see one for William Jefferson Clinton. How about "My President slept with your honor student." or "Read my lips, no new interns!" Credit to rushonline.

Real American| 1.8.09 @ 7:43PM

Clinton's legacy: a stain on a blue dress. There's your bumper sticker.

Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 8:19PM

Bush's bumper sticker:

"Let's Roll"

Laura| 1.8.09 @ 8:26PM

YES!!! I totally agree with Alan Brooks. Way to go, Alan.

Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 9:49PM

also
if Bush's presidency is mediocre, then what what do you term Jimmuh Carter's? dire?
And LBJ was perhaps our worst president.

Spicy Joker| 1.8.09 @ 9:52PM

Here's a bumper sticker for Dallek: official propagandist for "Camelot."

Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 10:48PM

at least Bush can keep his trousers on in mixed company.

Lloyd| 1.9.09 @ 12:23AM

Of course it's not-not- nonsense and ignorance for anyone to speak of a president's 'bumper sticker' imagery. AKA 'sound bite'

This country was founded on sound bites [Give me Liberty or give me death!] and has run on them ever since. Some are better than other, some worked and others didn't [54" 40' or Fight] and some were handed to the administration by its opponents ["Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?"]

So for Mr. Cole to disparage an effort to find a theme for a Bush presidency, it is Mr. Cole who is clueless. Dallek is wrong to think Bush will be forgotten, but Bush himself won't mind if in future someone has to remember who liberated Iraq. In his Christian modesty he is only concerned that Iraq has been liberated and remains free.