United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: The Precsience and Greatness of George W Bush
Source:
[None]
URL Source: http://ricochet.com/main-feed/The-Prescience-of-George-W.-Bush
Published: May 17, 2012
Author: Troy Senik
Post Date: 2012-05-17 17:53:33 by no gnu taxes
Keywords: None
Views: 4269
Comments: 9
Late in 2008 -- I can't recall now whether it was shortly before or shortly after Election Day -- a group of us serving as speechwriters to President George W. Bush were with him in the Oval Office for one of our regular meetings when the conversation turned to Barack Obama's relentless campaign trail attacks on the administration's national security policies. As was usually the case, there was more umbrage from amongst the president's staff than from the man himself. He was a political veteran who had long ago become unmoved by the steady torrent of criticism directed at him (attacks trained on his father or other members of his family, however, were a strikingly different matter). This late in his presidency, he was, if anything, removed and philosophical about the point. I'll never forget his response, which, like so many of his insights, drew on American history (those who think the 43rd president didn't take something away from his history major at Yale have never heard the man behind closed doors). Gazing into the distance and talking to no one in particular, he said (and here I paraphrase from memory): "He'll say whatever he needs to on the campaign trail. And he may actually believe all of it. But when he gets into this office and sits behind the desk, he'll understand why we've done what we've done and he'll just trim at the margins. It's just like the early days of the Cold War. He'll be the Eisenhower to my Truman." That brief monologue always stuck out in my mind. There was an ease with history that was breezy without being facile. There was a deep and relentless concern about national security above all else, which was the hallmark of his thinking during my time in the White House (when prompted for what he wanted to say in his farewell address, the president's immediate response was characteristically simple and direct: "We kept the nation safe"). And there was a faith that Barack Obama, whatever his ideological predispositions, was of sound enough judgment not to undo mechanisms that had proven vital for defending the homeland. I note all of this because this flashback was triggered earlier this week when I stumbled across this passage in a post from Walter Russell Mead at his Vea Media blog at the American Interest: Arguably, the Obama administration has played Ike to Bush’s Truman. President Truman was essentially driven from office by public unhappiness with his foreign policy. (Like Lyndon Johnson in 1968 he gave up his quest for re-election in 1952 after a stinging failure in the New Hampshire primary.) President Eisenhower campaigned against the failed policies of the Truman years, and once in the White House he moved swiftly to bring an end to the Korean War even as he institutionalized most of the major features of the Truman policies. (Like Obama, Eisenhower also attacked his predecessor for not doing enough in Asia — though here too his policies were visibly a continuation of the key Truman themes.) Then as now American politics were bitterly polarized; Republicans attacked Democrats as, literally, a party of treason (for sheltering Alger Hiss and other Soviet agents real and imagined). Ike’s strategy of harshly attacking the failed policies of the Truman administration while implementing most of their key features helped make those policies acceptable to the American center — and the public perception that Eisenhower was a strong and capable foreign policy leader did wonders for his poll numbers. President Obama has institutionalized the key features of Bush’s war on terror strategy even as he unceasingly denounces his predecessor. In Iraq and now in Afghanistan he wants to end unpopular wars while preserving the essence of Bush’s grand strategy. Just as Eisenhower denounced “containment” while pursuing a containment policy, President Obama has ditched the “war on terror” label while fighting a war on terror that is recognizably Bushesque. A pretty fair reading, I think. And a reminder that President Bush often had a far better view of the horizon than his critics.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: no gnu taxes (#0)
George Bush was a big spending, war mongering, socialist nincompoop. He should be hung.
Perhaps we have something here that we agree upon. ;)
Never swear "allegiance" to anything other than the 'right to change your mind'!
The neocons do indeed love their Bush clone Barack Hussein Oromney. They're absolutely giddy at the prospect of Mitt losing and Obama getting another four years. It'll be just like W's fourth term!
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
PLEASE. He was a fucking twit. The elitists used him as the TOOL he is... and now we have a God-damned POLICE STATE. So piss off, you idiot.
LoonyMing: I brandish my ignorance like a crucifix at vampires. 'It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that", as if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I'm offended by that." Well, so fucking what?' —Stephen Fry
What's left to say? Globalist, warmongering, big spending neo. He should be hung.... then shot and burned.
WRONG again you dumbass! Obama has expanded on your traitorous acts!
BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....8D I told ya to Never Misunderestimate me Or my abilities....;} Mission Accomplished. Now I'm goin' to my Libary at SMU to check on my paintings and statue....LMFAO
LOL!! The international gangster self-proclaimed elite parasites are just searching for the ultimate insult to lay on the American people. They gave us the bastard son of an Arkansas hooker, the court jester of the Bush crime family and now some sickly looking Kenyan scarecrow; what next? They are probably searching for a new "low" right now. Maybe they will put a cardboard cut-out of Alfred E. Neuman behind the desk in the oval office and their media whores will will blast non-stop praise for it's vibrant personality and leadership style.
LOL! It's getting to the point that most wouldn't be shocked if they just gave the job to the winner of American Idol.
we must as a species go into a period of shrinkage that we have not experienced since the Dark Ages and the Black Plague -- loonymom
#2. To: jwpegler (#1)
He should be hung.
#3. To: no gnu taxes, *Yukon neo-Progressive Vermin* (#0)
President Obama has institutionalized the key features of Bush’s war on terror strategy even as he unceasingly denounces his predecessor. In Iraq and now in Afghanistan he wants to end unpopular wars while preserving the essence of Bush’s grand strategy.
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#4. To: no gnu taxes (#0)
The Precsience and Greatness of George W Bush
Translation: IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
#5. To: Capitalist Eric, no gnu taxes, Brian S, hondo68, jwpegler (#4)
He was a fucking twit.
#6. To: George W Bush (#0)
But when he gets into this office and sits behind the desk, he'll understand why we've done what we've done and he'll just trim at the margins.
#7. To: no gnu taxes (#0)
#8. To: Capitalist Eric (#4)
The elitists used him as the TOOL he is...
#9. To: eskimo (#8)
They gave us the bastard son of an Arkansas hooker, the court jester of the Bush crime family and now some sickly looking Kenyan scarecrow; what next?
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]