As I read the glowing praise of George W. Bush’s “Anti-Trump” speech, I literally had a WTF moment. Seriously? The man the media once proclaimed let black people die in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is now a media darling? George W. Bush was not only a divisive leader, he was a grossly incompetent leader, as the media has so often reminded us. It seems that’s all in the past. The media, realizing that they can utilize Bush to attack President Donald Trump, now has no issue with rewriting history.
Perhaps the most nauseating part of the W revival is the fact that the former Bushies now feel more empowered than ever to defend the mantle of Conservatism against the evil Trump. Bushies like Michael Gerson, Nicolle Wallace, David Frum, and Matthew Dowd can get on their high horse all they want, but it still does not change the fact that Bush did not govern as a Conservative president. Quite frankly, it’s debatable as to whether Bill Clinton governed as more of a Conservative than Bush.
Bush lecturing on unity is about as believable as Harvey Weinstein lecturing on sexual harassment in the workplace. Bush ran for re-election bashing his opponent as a “Tax and spend Liberal from Massachusetts”. The messaging that Karl Rove and the Bush team promoted was troubling. While they actually understood fairly well how to connect with Latinos, the lack of dignity they afforded many other groups was sad. Quite frankly, the racist calls that were made against John McCain in South Carolina during the 2000 primary race set the tone for a team that was clearly out of touch with African Americans. Nevertheless, it was the Bush team’s treatment of gay Americans and those who dissented against President Bush’s handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that was most troubling.
During his re-election campaign, President Bush traveled the country literally gay bashing his way to re-election by treating gay Americans as a giant piñata. Whether you support gay marriage or not, the lack of dignity the Bush team afforded gay Americans was disgraceful. They essentially portrayed them as inhuman.
Who can forget “Freedom Fries”? The viciousness in which the Bush team and their allies attacked those who questioned their incompetence was disgraceful. Honestly, John Kerry’s behavior upon his return from Vietnam was fair game, however, could any decent human being justify the attacks on triple amputee, Senator Max Cleland? If you are a decent human being, the answer is clear.
The strategies implemented by Rove and the Bush team set the Republican Party back years. The only thing Rove was “The Architect” of was a shrinking electoral college map. Does anyone with half a brain think alienating half the country while firing up your base with the hope you win Ohio, Florida, and/or New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, Iowa, or Colorado is a brilliant strategy? What kind of governing mandate does that weak strategy provide?
When it came to policy, Bush was also extremely destructive. The domestic accomplishments of the Bush Administration would leave any big government liberal proud, and Calvin Coolidge spinning in his grave. The Bush administration spent at completely unsustainable levels without any regard for the tax payer. Is increasing spending by a total of 101% and adding over $5.8 trillion to the debt an accomplishment Republicans should be proud of? Moreover, are No Child Left Behind, corrupt farm bills, new prescription drug entitlements, pork-filled transportation bills, and bailouts for auto companies and big banks accomplishments that Conservatives should embrace? Lastly, the Bush administration had no issue with cronyism, whether it was Michael Brown at FEMA or trying to appoint Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. It was almost as though they view governing as a joke.
As far as foreign policy, the monumental attacks carried out by Al- Qaeda on September 11th, 2001 lead to a disastrous series of foreign policy blunders. Perhaps the first blunder was the fact that neither the Clinton nor the Bush administrations could prevent the 9/11 attacks. In response to the attacks, President Bush correctly ordered operations in Afghanistan to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden and to destroy his terrorist network. Nonetheless, shortly after operations began, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, a man’s whose level of arrogance is matched only by his level of incompetence, decided that he could not handle taking orders from the CIA. Eventually, Rumsfeld would win and not only would he leave CIA operatives without the proper military support in Tora Bora, he would also begin to shift focus to Iraq. Most tragic of all is the fact that he was in line with almost every member of the Bush administration with his Iraqi obsession. In the end, the Iraqi obsession would lead to a significant loss of life and treasure along with a ripple of destabilization that haunts us to this very day.
Since Trump decided to run for office, we have consistently heard Bushies proclaim Donald Trump is “dangerous” when it comes to foreign policy. Yet, those same people supported Bush marching under trained and ill-equipped guardsmen off to their deaths in Iraq and stubbornly refusing to change course until his party lost the mid-terms in 2006. Additionally, he once idiotically, but boldly told terrorists to “bring it on”. To make the anti-Trump crowd even more comfortable, he once claimed he looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and saw his soul. Quite honestly, I’m not sure Trump, or anyone, could be as incompetent and reckless as the Bush administration was on foreign policy. At the end of the day, Bush left a legacy you can either be embarrassed by or disgusted with but either way it was a disgrace.
As someone who has lived and been educated in another country, I can declare with certainty that America is a conservative country. Despite the fact that Liberals are louder regarding their policy positions, they are not in line with the views of average Americans. The Democratic party has always been extremely comfortable celebrating incompetent politicians; under the Bush administration, many Republicans became comfortable doing the same. Quite frankly, incompetence was not only accepted, it was vigorously defended. The Bush administration’s fiscal recklessness, disastrous foreign policy, and open borders allowed Democrats to win the House and Senate in 2006 by essentially running as Conservatives. Moreover, it led to the election of Barack Obama, who ran as a fiscal conservative. Amazingly, the aloof, unaccomplished Obama would ride his nice smile, some well written speeches, and his beautiful family to the presidency.
This piece is in no way a defense of Trump. It was merely a prosecution of the legacy of George W. Bush. Bush was never a conservative, he was merely the underachieving son of a former moderate President. His presidency left the nation under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama. Their leadership greatly expanded statism to the point it will take years to completely reverse the damage, if we can completely reverse it at all. Therefore, my suggestion to the Bushies, you had your shot, we all suffered because of it, now it’s time to just take a sit and sit in silence.
* Views expressed in columns and op-eds do not express the views or opinions of American Action News*
AAN Staff
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