Having said that, people need to recall that Reagan was not seen as he is today until his death. I almost fell off my chair when I saw so many nice things said about him at DU--"He loved his country, unlike the current President" for example.
When we step back from the things so concerning us at the moment (how many times while complaining about the cretinous, evil Jimmy Carter have we posted the words "Bert Lance," a name that popped up daily for a period during that presidency?), we will see the true, historical record.
I believe that record, whether the textbooks or MSM note it or not, will show that when faced with an act of war, the cold-blooded murder of thousands of Americans, George Bush looked down the road and saw where the acceptance of terror by the world as a given, as something we just have to deal with on a case-by-case basis, which was accepted by, yes, Ronald Reagan (Lebanon), George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and thought, 'This must be confronted now.'
Bush saw that of course you couldn't eradicate terrorist actions, but you could show that the cost would be so overwhelming, that if any tyrant decided to go that way--as we see by the evidence Saddam was interested in very much--they would lose.
Has the execution of this policy been perfect? Hell, no. Please name for me the foreign policy initiative that HAS been perfect? There have been none, there never will be one. There is no Textbook Of Perfect Policies.
That's life.
Bush is an imperfect man who, to me, made one of the most frightening, yet bravest decisions ever.
History will thank him for it. He is making the islamofascist dream that much less likely to happen, far moreso than any President, any person, ever has.
His critics are toy poodles nipping at his ankles, while he is a figure about whom one can say "History would have been greatly different if he were never President." You can't say that about Clinton, his immediate predecessor. Unfortunately we have been spared from learning if that would be said of Gore or Kerry, as I think they would have altered history, too--to our peril.
That's the reality.
His critics are toy poodles nipping at his ankles, while he is a figure about whom one can say "History would have been greatly different if he were never President."
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Excellent post!
Thanks for that one. From me and all my progeny.
^