George W. Bush comforts Ashley Faulkner, the daughter of a 9/11 victim.
It’s an old joke. The drunk says, “I miss my wife.”
His friend asks, “Where did she go?”
The drunk replies, “I traded her for a bottle of whiskey.”
“You miss her, huh?”
“Heck no, I’m thirsty again.”
I’m thirsty again, for the sense of security that I felt when George W. Bush was president.
After nine months of The One’s narcissism, excessive Congressional spending, and in the aftermath of the horrific Fort Hood massacre perpetrated by a crazed Islamic Jihadist, America’s Obama binge has worn off. Even some noteworthy liberals are wondering if we wouldn’t be better off today with a man like George W. Bush in the White House. You remember W, the bungling oaf who couldn’t pronounce nuclear. He’s the guy who kept our nation safe after 9/11.
I wasn’t a Bush fan. I always thought of him as a progressive moderate in the same mold as his father. His slogan, “Compassionate Conservative,” tipped it off for me. Bush’s brand of compassion led to record spending and the highest deficit in history until the new guy came along and blew the deficit through the roof. I supported and campaigned for Alan Keyes in the 2000 primaries. Had someone other than Bush gained the GOP nomination I would have been a lot happier, but I voted for him twice in the general election because I figured that, although Bush was a less than perfect candidate, he was a better alternative than the Global Warming huckster, Al Gore, or French-looking John Kerry.
George W. Bush was an accomplished politician rather than a statesman. But he was on track during three fourths of his administration. He foresaw the problems we are now having with Medicare, Social Security, and the housing crisis and tried his best to address those challenges, only to be stopped from implementing the solutions by a Democrat majority in Congress.
There are far too many Bush accomplishments to list them all, but here are a few:
During his presidency Bush signed legislation for two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in U.S. history, allowing the economy to grow for seven consecutive years. He supported elimination of the death tax and reductions in capital gains, policies that turned around an economy that was in recession and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks. He kept the unemployment rate at 5%, which many economists believe is tantamount to full employment and increased small business incentives to expand and hire new people. He also initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.
But Bush didn’t just direct his attention toward the economy. Under his direction Congress created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled. He increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child and made the $5,000 adoption tax credit permanent as well as providing $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000. Best of all Bush listened to the American people by changing his stance on amnesty for illegal aliens and corrected his mistakes with the Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Miers appointments by appointing two exceptional conservative judges to the Supreme Court; John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
The wisdom of his adventure into Iraq can be debated, but there is little question that his Iraq campaign liberated millions from under the thumb of a maniacal despot. He spent millions to combat AIDS in Africa and solidified our relationship with our Eastern European allies. In addition he was one of the strongest friends Israel has ever had in the U.S. presidency.
Bush was a decent man and devout Christian who loved his wife, his family, his country and his troops. He shed genuine tears when soldiers returned home in caskets and spent many private hours with the families of the fallen. He toured veteran’s hospitals and encouraged the wounded, something that he still does today. We never heard him give a shout out when announcing a national tragedy similar to the Fort Hood massacre. And we never heard him disparage his predecessor even though there is strong evidence that our nation’s most immoral President, Bill Clinton, dropped the ball that led to 9/11.
Strong, diligent, and always a gentleman, Bush stood against the vilest attacks and mockery from his political enemies and never wavered from his beliefs. The rest of the world might not have liked him, but they respected him. His troops fought for him but his own party abandoned him as the Republicans eventually lost their way.
Bush had many faults. He brought the deficit to record levels and implemented the $700 billion TARP bailout for the banking industry. That was an error which, I believe, weakened our capitalistic system and cost McCain the election. It also set the stage for the current administration’s outrageous spending spree. One of Bush’s most obvious faults was that he had the mistaken idea that he could foster harmony and bring bipartisanship to Congress by working with the opposition party, even though Democrats double crossed him numerous times. I am reminded of the No Child Left Behind Act, written by Ted Kennedy. Just hours after Bush signed it, Kennedy, who got everything he asked for in the bill, attacked Bush for not spending enough money on the program. Nevertheless the strengths during the Bush years outweighed the weaknesses.
I may be looking through rose-colored glasses, but I have begun to miss W’s crooked smile and his folksy manner of speaking. I miss the humility and grace that he brought to the office. He didn’t have to be eloquent and he didn’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar. He was my President, and although I disagreed with him in many areas, I had the utmost respect for him. I also miss Laura, one of the most gracious first ladies in my lifetime.
After eight long years of relentless attacks on Bush from the left, America demanded change. The change that we got was Barack Hussein Obama. How’s that working out for you?
God bless George W. Bush.
Comments
"He’s the guy who kept our nation safe after 9/11."
That's one way to look at it. Another would be to say that he is the guy who was warned about Bin Laden in August 2001, and after 9/11 immediately started looking for targets to bomb in Iraq. How did that work out for us? Try telling some of the incinerated civilians in the WTC that W kept them safe.
History will treat Bush more kindly than the left wing would prefer and the jury is still out on Obama. People so wanted to believe that massive change was possible but didn't learn their lesson from the Clinton administration and voted Obama into office.
Bush served us well in a tough time. So far, Obama seems only to serve up himself to us daily on television. I want to know when he gets any work don.
I agree with the author....President Bush was not perfect, he is a human after all. But if we were to seriously look at all he had to combat (manmade AND natural disasters) during his tenure, who of us could say we would have done any better? (Though, it is so easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize). The world may have hated us, but they also knew better then to mess with the U.S.
Thanks to Obama, we have become the laughing stock of the nations. I cannot stand what this man has reduced our country to, and I will not support his vision of the America he is striving for.
I have never been so fearful for my country and my family.
GREAT article, Mr Tamel!
"That's one way to look at it. Another would be to say that he is the guy who was warned about Bin Laden in August 2001, and after 9/11 immediately started looking for targets to bomb in Iraq. How did that work out for us? Try telling some of the incinerated civilians in the WTC that W kept them safe."
Why do liberals always resort to emotional hyperbole? Bush took the war to a foreign front and kept our nation safe from Islamic extremism. So, I think it worked out good for us.
Now we have a situation where our president is trying to pretend that terrorism isn't a big concern by putting co-conspirators of 9/11 on trial as civilians. Brilliant.
Just maybe then they can use semantics and redefine any terrorist attack on our soil as a felony punishable by jury of their peers.
I remember immediately after the attack, all the American People were clambering for action. They were attacking Bush for being too slow in finding the enemy.
American's memory is so short.
It was weeks after the attack before anything was done in Afghanistan. First there was weeks of diplomacy where we tried to get the Taliban to give up Osama to no avail.
Then and only then, the attack came. It didn't come with bombs raining down, it came with special ops being dropped in the middle of night over the border and by troops on horse back crossing the border.
They made Bush out to be a war monger, every step of the way he tried to attempt to accomplish our interests without firing a shot.
Immediately warned about Bin Laden equals knowing exactly what and where the attack would happen? And yet the guy who acted as the Fort Hood soldier did with his rantings about 'infidels' and giving money to Palestinian governments was just an act of stress according to our current President?
Furthermore, President Bush didn't 'immediately' start looking for places to bomb in Iraq. 09/11 preceeded the attack on Iraq by 2 1/2 years. Not quite a rush there. Afghanistan was sooner because it was known Bin Laden was there and they were hiding/protecting him.
History through talking points isn't history. If anyone actually studied history, they would find that the press treated Abraham Lincoln as bad, if not worse than they did George W. Bush. Looking back, we can see why he did what he did and how much better we are as a nation for it. As unpopular as it/he was at the time.
"I agree with the author....President Bush was not perfect, he is a human after all. But if we were to seriously look at all he had to combat (manmade AND natural disasters) during his tenure, who of us could say we would have done any better?"
I could!
worst president ever.
started an unnecessary war.
put everything -- tax cuts and drug benefit and the wars -- on the cuff and claimed to be a fiscal conservative.
Let his VP run wild.
presided over the demise of New Orleans and every regulatory effort of the past 50 years.
worst president ever.
Bush has a firm hold on the title Worst President Ever. The letters WPE should follow his name throughout history. What a loser. Who else could have presided over the series of disasters and incompetencies as cluelessly as he did? Maybe Sarah Palin.
The end of America is assured with the next Republican president.
GW may have wandered off the conservative plantation too long while perusing his own doctrine causing him to loose domestic focus and not staying on message... but he was a true moral man. Did what he believed was the right thing no matter how much heat he took. You always knew where he stood… his commitments, his beliefs, his convictions. I always went to bed at night feeling secure about our country and its future.
GW, once a hero... but at the end labeled the villain. Sad epitaph for a humble, decent guy who only wanted to do what was right for his country not what was right for the sake of politics, the establishment or for himself. GW and Lara Bush were our quintessential head-of-state first family. True representatives of the peoples Office of the Presidency... a class act. Regular humble folk who I could relate to and respect because of their character, conviction and heart which they always wore on their sleeves.
Our current crop of thieves in congress, led by a
Continue:
Our current crop of thieves in congress, led by a Marxist ideologues, spits in the face of our Founding Fathers. The usurper Barry Soetoro AKA(Barak Hussein Obama) is a narcistic sanctimonious arrogant opportunist who cares only for his own prestige. Barry Satoro is not brilliant at anything but plagiarism, self indulgence and ego.
The foundation of this country was the individual... individual freedom and liberty, allowing people to pursue their own self-interests to become whatever they wanted to become -- nothing or anything -- based on whatever their ambition and desire motivates them. Government exists to defend and protect that freedom!
Laws are not created for the self interests of an elite few in order to control the masses but are created in order to protect the masses from the elite few.
God save America from these Communist Obamanation freaks that are pi$$ing on the US Constitution and want only its destruction.
We miss you W!
A congenial sociopath, like Ted Bundy, but there are differences. Bush killed a hell of a lot more people and Bundy has been executed for his crimes.
Anyone who misses the worst president this country was ever saddled with is in need of professional help.
What is WITH this nation and the way stupidity, mediocrity and ineptitude is revered?
"He’s the guy who kept our nation safe after 9/11."
What color is the sky there in Bizarro World?
Allowed 9/11
Appointed Religious hacks in lieu of qualified people
Rejected Science
No Child Left Behind
Tora Bora
Iraq
Politicized the Dept. of Justice
Allow financial collapse
Worse Jobs creation than Hoover
Allow Deficit to expand by 5 trillion dollars
Left war veterans out to dry by appointing religious fundies to the VA.
Cowboy diplomacy ruined brand America
etc, etc, etc.
Michelle Adcock says:
Immediately warned about Bin Laden equals knowing exactly what and where the attack would happen?
Was handed Hart/Rudman on day one, in which provisions for securing cockpit doors was included, along with numerous other items which would have prevented 9/11. The study was turned over to Cheney for implementation, which he implemented on 9/12.
I agree with the author also, who gives a balanced view. Obama is all bad. There's no comparison. And GWB is smarter than Obama. His stats are out there, but O's? The myth that Obama is smart is one of the most telling lies. He's actually dull normal.
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