Thank you, George W. Bush
Sex and violence
Greg Karber
Issue date: 1/16/09 Section: Opinion
Next Tuesday, Barack Obama will be inaugurated and George W. Bush will finally leave Washington D.C. an outcast, forced to wander the plains of America giving speeches for half a million dollars and writing autobiographies with healthy seven-or-eight-digit advances - good work for a man renowned for his poor public speaking and mocked for presumably low reading skills.
I mean, come on, this is the guy who spent seven minutes reading "The Pet Goat" after Andrew Card told him that America was under attack, and he's probably going to get more money up front than Stephen King and certainly more per word, as, if "The Pet Goat" is any indication, Bush's reading preferences tend toward the short and the highly illustrated.
But I'm not going to use this column to kick a man while he's down (and boy, is he ever down: for a president whose approval rating peaked higher than any president since they started doing these polls, around ninety after 9/11, those twenties and low thirties have got to be killing his ego). I'm not going to make fun of the guy. I'm not going to call him one of the worst presidents in history. I'm not going to make a joke about how he mispronounces "nuclear."
Instead, I am going to thank him.
Yes, you heard me right: thank him. Not for his failing foreign policies or his insistence on stripping away our civil liberties. Not for making America simultaneously feared, hated and laughed at by every other first-world country. Not for his obvious obliviousness on how difficult wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be. Not for his, well, I could go on, but I won't - out of respect.
I don't thank him for any of that.
I do, however, thank him for being one of the greatest Democrats of the past hundred years. Right up there with FDR and Bill Clinton. I say this not because his policies have been left-leaning (they haven't, and they really haven't been right-leaning, either, unless your definition of "right" is something like "absolutely crazy," in which case I agree with you: George W. Bush's policies have been absolutely crazy-leaning) or because he has promoted the progressive causes of equal rights and equal opportunities for all (again, he hasn't).
I mean, come on, this is the guy who spent seven minutes reading "The Pet Goat" after Andrew Card told him that America was under attack, and he's probably going to get more money up front than Stephen King and certainly more per word, as, if "The Pet Goat" is any indication, Bush's reading preferences tend toward the short and the highly illustrated.
But I'm not going to use this column to kick a man while he's down (and boy, is he ever down: for a president whose approval rating peaked higher than any president since they started doing these polls, around ninety after 9/11, those twenties and low thirties have got to be killing his ego). I'm not going to make fun of the guy. I'm not going to call him one of the worst presidents in history. I'm not going to make a joke about how he mispronounces "nuclear."
Instead, I am going to thank him.
Yes, you heard me right: thank him. Not for his failing foreign policies or his insistence on stripping away our civil liberties. Not for making America simultaneously feared, hated and laughed at by every other first-world country. Not for his obvious obliviousness on how difficult wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be. Not for his, well, I could go on, but I won't - out of respect.
I don't thank him for any of that.
I do, however, thank him for being one of the greatest Democrats of the past hundred years. Right up there with FDR and Bill Clinton. I say this not because his policies have been left-leaning (they haven't, and they really haven't been right-leaning, either, unless your definition of "right" is something like "absolutely crazy," in which case I agree with you: George W. Bush's policies have been absolutely crazy-leaning) or because he has promoted the progressive causes of equal rights and equal opportunities for all (again, he hasn't).
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 20
Philip
posted 1/16/09 @ 7:23 AM CST
Good,
Indeed i should say Bush made a pariah of himself.
Thanks.
Alex
posted 1/16/09 @ 12:01 PM CST
"ideally fueling an eventual GOP split into the two demographics that currently comprise it: the hard-line crazies and the rich."
The demographic of citizens with a networth ranging from 1 to 30 million overwhelmingly support Conservative policies. (Continued…)
Craig
posted 1/16/09 @ 2:59 PM CST
I agree. But tell your editor that "pictures are hung, people are hanged."
Ellen T.
posted 1/21/09 @ 4:21 PM CST
So this is 'change'... More Bush-bashing... So refreshing and original coming from the Left...
Greg
posted 1/23/09 @ 9:12 AM CST
You're so right, Ellen T. I shouldn't "Bush Bash." No matter that his poor decisions cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and countless Iraqi civilians. (Continued…)
Jeremy
posted 1/23/09 @ 5:28 PM CST
Greg, I suggest that you step out of plausibility to assert that President Bush has eroded 'our' faith or respect. I, my, mine, that works.
You are right that he put the nation ahead of his own image. (Continued…)
Greg
posted 1/25/09 @ 1:01 PM CST
I could write a lot about what you posted, Jeremy, but I think the most important thing to focus on is your absolutely baffling statement: "The truth is that the military as a whole (yes, even the thousands dead in their time) were behind President Bush. (Continued…)
Jeremy
posted 1/25/09 @ 2:53 PM CST
No, those at the sharp end refers to American soldiers in harms way. I was saying that Americans at state-side don't understand what the soldiers are and were fighting for. (Continued…)
Zach
posted 1/30/09 @ 1:31 AM CST
I guess if that wasn't a Bush bash I don't really know. After spending two paragraphs bashing him you tell the reader of how you are not. It is easy to tell how liberally media really deals you a great deal of your information (a Huffington Post reference, get real there is a reason why that information isn't on a reputable news source. (Continued…)
Kevin
posted 2/01/09 @ 1:50 PM CST
First of all, Jeremy: Iraqis are people, too. I hate to be cliche, but to act like the only lives worth saving are Americans is to be both callous and irresponsible. (Continued…)
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