You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Home Front: Culture Wars
America Betrayed President Bush
2010-01-21
President Bush deserves our respect not our scorn.

It's almost hard to believe but Wednesday, January 20 marks exactly one year since President Bush left the White House.

During his last public ceremony as commander in chief, he was booed by thousands of Americans who simutaneously cheered for Barack Obama as he was sworn into office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Except for a June 17 speech in Erie, Pennsylvania in which Bush defended his policies and criticized Obama's, the former president has been remarkably silent about his successor. He has not fired back at Obama despite the new administration inappropriately blaming Bush for all of their failures.

One year after taking office however, Obama has done a total reversal on his isolationist, non-interventionist foreign policy, and is now pushing President Bush's neo-conservative philosophy as a justification for starting a new war in Afghanistan. What the Democratic Party once criticized as an over-simplified good vs. evil argument has become the cornerstone of Obama's reasoning.

"Evil does exist in the world," Obama recently admitted. "A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of man."
Posted by:Steve White

#20  I grew up in Arkansas, hunting with Dad and brothers. Married into a hunting Texas family, and I'd go hunting with Mr. Cheney --- It's not only part of the job of your hunting partners to know where you are -- but you got to know where they are..... some partners don't always know where they are (at least that's how I heard part of that story)
Posted by: Sherry   2010-01-21 23:47  

#19  Actually, I'd go hunting with Mr. Cheney as well. I'd just make a point of staying well back when it was his turn to shoot, just like I would for anyone else.
Posted by: trailing wife   2010-01-21 23:41  

#18  Gentlemen, I would go hunting with W. Cheney was the one who shot his buddy with birdshot....not W.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie   2010-01-21 23:29  

#17  Bush never blaimed Clinton for anything. He just went to work every day. Just like the rest of us.
Posted by: Chereting Snetch4156   2010-01-21 22:37  

#16  Grom, I often wondered whether you have an unique perspective or rather you are full of it

Asking g(r)om about US leadership is like inviting my sister-in-law out to dine.

No matter what restaurant or what cuisine, she runs the staff ragged, verbally abuses the rest of family, and never hesistates to find something to bitch about.

Even if you're the one picking up the tab.
Posted by: Pappy   2010-01-21 21:25  

#15  Texas Cops Release Cheney Shooting Report

Whittington was left behind to recover his bird. He rejoined the line unannounced and walked up next to Cheney. A bird flushed, Cheney pivoted and got off the shot, and there was Whittington. An accident, equally shared, I think.
Posted by: KBK   2010-01-21 19:19  

#14  Spike Snubnose and Crazyfool:

Of course I think W had integrity and honor. Of course I'd rather have him watching my back than Obama. Yes, many Americans let W and other great Americans going back to the Foounding Fathers down. Yes, history (if they start allowing people with center-right politics to be history professors again some day) will look back and see that W was the first president since WWII to directly address radical Islam as an existential threat to the West.

I am grateful he was president after 9/11.

Doesn't change the fact that, like his father, his one failing - the inability to communicate forcefully, effectively, and articulately - is a fault that hamstrings a leader in an age of mass media. In a pre-TV, pre-internet age, W's deficiency in this area would have been irrelevant.

Sadly, nowadays it is crucial.

Redneck Jim

Always remember, for steel shot use one less choke........
Posted by: no mo uro   2010-01-21 15:57  

#13  However, I would not go hunting with him.

Did you know that the "Duke" (John Wayne)also peppered a fellow shooter with birdshot and said,
"Damn I know it hurts, but I wish you could see the perfect pattern this gun throws".
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2010-01-21 14:56  

#12  Thank you for sharing this, simply fascinating, glimpse into your mental processes with us, 2x4.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2010-01-21 13:42  

#11  He didn't lie

Yes he did (though I cannot list an example at the moment.) It is essential to doing the job. To his credit, he did not seem very good, or comfortable at it - unlike so many.
Posted by: Glenmore   2010-01-21 12:43  

#10  Bush had Integrity and he had honor. He didn't lie and he did what he thought was best to defend America. Contract that with Obama, Kerry, or Al Gore....

The fact that he wasn't the 'best he could be' doesn't distract from the fact that he was a good president in a hard time. Sure he 'could have - should have' been more forceful - but that doesn't distact from the things he got right.

Would you rather have our current president? Can you imagine that the hip-bowing affirmitive-action president would have done? (And still might do if it happens again?) How about John Kerry or Al Gore?

And don't forget that the media absolutely *HATED* Bush with a passion. A lot of what we know about, and just about everything which has been reported about, his presidency has been tainted by that hatred.

I for one say "Thank you Mr President".
Posted by: CrazyFool   2010-01-21 09:57  

#9  I disagreed with his policies on amnesty and immigration, with his bailout of gamblers in the financial arena, some of selections for various offices and departments, and trade offs he made with a Democratically controlled Congress. I do, however, understand why he did those. If the republic does survive, it will be not just because of his conduct of the WOT but because of his vilification most Americans came to know that the MSM was nothing more than an extension of the Democratic Party that accepted no limitation in bearing false witness against him, and therefore cut its own throat among so many citizens.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-01-21 09:51  

#8  Bush's detractors should be embarrassed having arrogantly thought they could do it better, and those Republicans who abandoned Bush when he needed them most should take a moment to reflect on their fortitude or lack thereof.


The money quote for me. I had occasion to meet and talk with Cheney in the early 90s. Cheney did not seem to me to be a Machiavellian prince plotting in the background. He seemed to be a smart, straight-up guy. I think he was a pretty good VP--probably more involved than most. He seemed to also have a great deal to do with keeping the U.S. safe. However, I would not go hunting with him.
Posted by: JohnQC   2010-01-21 09:18  

#7  Everyone has some limitations, maybe some big faults. Your wife for instance.

As for George W. Bush...if you wanted a man at your back in a close fight would you want Obama or George W?

I admired George W. he stood for something. He kept his word. He took all that abuse and carried the war...and where IS Mookie Sadr and Zarquawi today? Where are the two flaming prances, Kerry and Edwards saluting and standing up for honor and duty? Breck Boy and Mr. five medal for nothing.
Fine upstanding men like that, the very best the Democratic Party had to offer.

George W, wherever you are now, you did a good job. You kept the country safe....not like Hussein Obama who pansyed PC and allowed three attacks inside the US in less than a year when George kept us in the clear for six years..AND won the war.

Anybody realize how mean a fight it was in Fallujah? Those Marines stood up and CHEERED when George W came into the auditorium and stood among them. You can hear the silence when Obama comes to speak to a room full of soldiers.

The American people let a good man like George W down.
I dont think history will.
Posted by: Spike Snubnose   2010-01-21 08:54  

#6  Had W been more articulate and if he had some fire in his belly to stand up to moonbattery and BDS, he could have accomplished so much more.

The next conservative who gets into the oval office has to be someone who takes no prisoners and exacts retribution, someone who will get on TV when a Barney Frank accuses him of racism merely for wanting to do something about an impending mortgage crisis and tell the American public that wanting to fix the problem isn't racism, it's common sense, and that evil people like Frank lie about motivations for political reasons.

He would use the bully pulpit of the presidency to blister anyone who accused him of wanting to put old folks out on ice floes as a result of his efforts to reform social security.

W could have set the tone for the Republican party with vigorous public and articulate defense of the good that conservatism is.


W did not do things like this and the result was President Obama and a conservative movement on the outside looking in. For all of his good points, this was a great failing on the part of W.
Posted by: no mo uro   2010-01-21 08:13  

#5  Grom, I often wondered whether you have an unique perspective or rather you are full of it. Glad that I don't have to ponder anymore.
Posted by: twobyfour   2010-01-21 07:38  

#4  Surely it's Bush who betrayed America by.
(i) Misdirecting Counter-Jihad into "Nation Building"?
(ii) Ignoring the signs of the coming economic crisis as long as it didn't interfere with his Iraqi program?
(iii) Appointing a personal sycophant to the second highest position in US government?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2010-01-21 04:34  

#3  But he brought it all upon himself. It's his fault and Darth Cheney too! [snark off]
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-01-21 02:07  

#2  From a comment from above you can thank President Bush from the Mission 1 Accomplished website.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2010-01-21 00:45  

#1  One Year Into the Golden Age of Hope and Change

Last November:

Thank you former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush

Check the comments on those two threads.
Posted by: KBK   2010-01-21 00:40  

00:00