Well, here we are, kids. Tonight is George W. Bush’s last night in the President’s Bedroom.
I don’t have much to say about it—certainly nothing rivaling the extensive treatments, both positive and negative, he’s getting elsewhere online. I voted for him twice, somewhat less enthusiastically in 2004 than in 2000, but haven’t thought of myself as a huge Bush fan in quite some time. Moreover, given his presidency’s budgetary indistinguishability from that of the biggest big-government Democrat, I can’t say I’m particularly sorry to see him go (though it’s definitely not Ron Paul we’re getting next).
Doubtless his presidency was interesting, in the Chinese proverb sense. A few thoughts:
- I thought Clinton hatred was the height of political irrationality. That was nothing. Moreover, I remain incredulous at the weakness to downright absence of any rhetorical counterattack. This administration never raised a finger in its own defense, even when it was justified. “New tone” my ass.
- Bush has certainly disemboweled the Republican brand when it comes to fiscal discipline. He and his single-minded Congress gleefully grew the government as quickly and as massively as they could (“like smack-addicted pit fiends,” I said more than once on Usenet). For starters (as in the tiniest tip of the iceberg), anyone want to find me anything in the Department of Homeland Security’s charter that wasn’t already covered by another government agency?
- I do think history will ultimately judge it remarkable that we have not experienced another terrorist attack on U.S. soil after September 11.
Godspeed, President Bush.
You might also like:
- George H.W. Bush, 1924-2018
“George Bush is a man of nearly boundless energy and enthusiasm.” I remember a high school textbook … - You can like Trump and still wish he wasn’t such a jackass. I promise.
The great Jay Nordlinger once told of accompanying President George W. Bush on a meander through a c… - The last sane person in Washington on the bailouts
Read Ron Paul’s excellent editorial on the largest financial government intervention since the Great… - Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential candidacy is DOA
Jeb Bush has gotten an annoying amount of traction—that would be any traction whatsoever, really—in … - "It was a thumpin’." – George W. Bush
Good for the Democrats. Perhaps they’ll show some vision with their victory. ‘Course, Congress and B…
The Department of Homeland Security was created in response to 9/11. If there had been no 9/11 I doubt Bush would have grown the government as much as he did. Terrorism against US targets escalated during his predecessor’s administration culminating in 9/11. Clinton’s policy of lobbing cruise missiles into the Afghan desert wasn’t enough. Bush had to make a radical change and go bare knuckled to deal with the terrorist problem. DHS was supposed to pull all our separate but related agencies together to more effectively combat terrorism. Was it worth the growth in government? I don’t know, but he did manage to greatly hamstring Al-Qaeda and stop the terror attacks here in the US. Perhaps it was overkill but Bush didn’t have a playbook to go by.
Now the ball is in the Democrat/Liberal court. We’ll see if giving terrorists Miranda rights and trying to reason with them will make us more loved in the world and keep us even safer than under Bush.
I can only imagine what it must feel like to go home to Texas, and finally kick off the shoes.