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The Spectacle Blog
I'm not the world's biggest fan of George W. Bush, for all the conventionally conservative reasons and those Jeremy Lott discusses on the main site today. The bargain conservatives cut with him is that he'd probably be soft on spending, immigration, racial preferences, and other issues but would make up for it on judges, Social Security reform, tax cuts, and national security after 9/11.
That's why Harriet Miers, Medicare Part D, and both amnesty and the Dubai Ports World deal were the issues that elicited the most conservative opposition to Bush: he seemed to be caving in the areas where he was presumed rock solid. Katrina had the same impact on swing voters: Even if the criticism was overstated and let (mostly Democratic) state and local officials off the hook for their greater incompetence, federal flat-footedness made people wonder if the government really had learned the proper 9/11 preparedness lessons (even if we were safe in the years following the 9/11 murders themselves).
I don't think he's a bad man and believe even some of his shortcomings were due to his basic decency, not his mendacity or worse. Bush made the right calls on taxes, embryonic stem-cell research, Roberts and Alito, and Petraeus (if not the Iraq adventure itself). But he made some wrong judgments too, for which future generations will be paying in tax dollars and worse for a long time to come.
But most of all, the legacy of Bush is making the election of Barack Obama -- a freshman Illinois senator who was in the state senate when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers and Pentagon -- possible. Whatever the failings of the incoming president, he would not be in the White House were it not for the failures of the outgoing president. Best wishes to both of them.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/01/20/bye-bye-bush
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Better that we become a nation of choosers rather than beggars. Our symposium on choice from the May, 2012 issue:
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The Fairness Delusion
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Indiana Alex| 1.20.09 @ 9:20AM
Let's not forget GWB most incredible accomplishment. He cured the planet of global warming. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for that.
WendyG| 1.20.09 @ 9:29AM
Isn't just dandy that so many people have decided, now that their candidate has won, that they love America after all. Now - "anything is possible." What was America to them before, chopped liver? What little of the TV coverage I have been able to stomach, has sickened me. To call it hero worship isn't enough. Really, it's so over the top.
What has been interesting and delightful is the coverage on the History Channel and the like, on past Presidents, the White House, and even Air Force One. Certainly the long view back on Presidents of yore is instructional.
One has to view Bush not only in terms of what he did, but the mountans he had to climb. The MSM hated him from day one, puntuated by a period after 9-11 when they shelved their hatred for a brief moment. Even now, the hair-on-fire types like Olbermann and Maddow want Bush's scalp.
Yet we are supposed to be magnanimous. Open our arms to the first of-color President because it's the American thing to do. The Bush-haters are indignant about this. Well I for one am not feeling that way. I was right after the election, but the Bush-bashing continued, so I am not inclined to drink the Kool-Aid. I do know that it will take time for the Bush legacy to shake down. On balance, I believe he will be favorably regarded. I don't wish the new President ill, but I ain't doing the happy dance today.
Roy| 1.20.09 @ 9:43AM
WendyG - I pretty much agree, and it really disgusts me that people like Keith Olbermann have been rewarded for their disgraceful behavior.
The way I knew from the beginning that Barack Obama's claims about a new kind of politics were frauds is that he never distanced himself, at all, from the buffoonishly over-the-top Bush bashing of his party.
Well, the party has yibbered America into electing them. I wonder if America has just decided it will pay however much is necessary to get Barney Frank and Jesse Jackson to shut up. Sadly, when once you have paid the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane.
james23| 1.20.09 @ 10:13AM
Look, the game has changed, and the new game is: take every opportunity to disparage the President and his Adminsitration, create opportunities if there are none, accuse him of everything, nothing being off limits, drive his ratings and ability to govern into the ground, and swoop in at election time to reap your reward. This is the new game. Master it or lose.
It is not too early to start. He will give us ammo in his speech later today. Let the pounding commence.
BD57| 1.20.09 @ 11:50AM
Mr. Antle:
There's one success of Mr. Bush's which (IMO) is also determinative - if we'd been hit again after 9/11, I don't believe someone as green as Mr. Obama could be elected.
People have been deluded into believing we're "safe" - hence, a la Bill Clinton in 1992, they feel safe taking a chance on the "new guy."
Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 12:17PM
now eight years of grabbing for morsels and crumbs of power can begin.
bombs away.
ruth| 1.20.09 @ 2:35PM
George W. Bush--the Compassionate Conservative who's compassionate to everyone BUT conservatives.
dan| 1.20.09 @ 4:36PM
GWB, Worst president ever by a long shot. Complete incompetent. We are much worse off than when he came into office 8 long years ago.
Kat| 1.20.09 @ 4:59PM
Well, Dan, the DOW is under 8000 now. Not a good omen for your Obamassiah.
Rae| 1.20.09 @ 10:48PM
Well,Kat, if Clinton is to blame for 9/11 (nine months into W's presidency) then the DOW being under 8000 points on day one of Obama's term would fall under....
Kat| 1.21.09 @ 12:07AM
7 months, Rae. Public school by any chance? The buck stops at Obama, let's see how you liberal stooges do.
sidnee| 12.12.09 @ 12:15PM
jack wills
ugg new arrivals