It's a Good Time to Be George W. Bush

commentary magazine ^ | Abe Greenwald

[big black dog]

Let's face it, this is shaping up as George W. Bush's best month in years. The last time the 43rd president enjoyed this kind of vindication was when a bedraggled Saddam Hussein was pulled from a hole in the ground by American soldiers in 2003. All of Barack Obama's efforts to cast the Bush administration as an immoral stain on American history have not merely collapsed, but collapsed on the heads of Bush's most public and vocal critics.

Here's a non-stammering Nancy Pelosi talking about Bush last July: "God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States -- a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject."

Don't mind if I do. How about national security? It turns out that support for a criminal investigation of Bush policies yielded an important finding after all: Pelosi's own long-standing agreement with the Bush administration's toughest measures. On that point she's in sync with the rest of the country. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll found that Americans approve of the interrogation methods Bush okayed by a margin of 50% to 46%. In other words, she didn't have to go through the condemnation charade to begin with.

Then there's Iraq. That July interview with Pelosi is quite a goldmine. When faced with a 14% approval rating for Congress, she counters: "Everything I see says this is about ending the war. . . " Well, that's not happening anytime soon. Everything I see says "ending the war" was as phony as Nancy Pelosi's outrage. Hillary Clinton went to Baghdad three weeks ago to reassure the Maliki government that the Obama administration will not abandon Iraq. On top of that, Gen. Ray Odierno said the U.S. might "maintain a presence" in some Iraqi cities beyond the scheduled draw-down date if the Iraqis request it. Did Pelosi mean the other war, in Afghanistan? Obama has done an outstanding job of taking that challenge seriously, and for those keeping score, his pick of Gen. Stanley McChrystal (the man who hunted down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq) has met with the gushing approval of Dick Cheney.

And speaking of Dick Cheney: Not only has he proved to be an important and articulate defender of the Bush administration's national-security policy; his repeated interviews and statements have done Bush the service of drawing fire away from the former president. Bush not only looks wise these days; he looks modest and thoughtful as well. And Cheney's (denied) request to declassify more CIA interrogation memos explodes the myth of the "most secretive administration in American history."

Let us not forget the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility. For years adduced as a monument to the Bush administration's disdain for due process and human rights, Gitmo was slated to be shut down by Barack Obama as a first order of business. Today, the posture without a plan has come up against a bi-partisan roadblock. Thursday, the House denied the Obama administration a requested $80 million to close the facility. The Senate's version of the bill in question contains $50 million for the Pentagon to shutter the place, but the money can only be tapped 30 days after Robert Gates devises a plan to relocate detainees outside the U.S. -- so far France will take one. To top it all off, on Friday Obama announced the revival of Guantanamo military tribunals.

On Iran, the Obama administration is veering from its stance of bottomless "respect" and "perseverance." This week Obama set early October as a "target" to determine whether Iran is really deserving of all that extended goodwill. Additionally, the administration has drawn up benchmarks to gauge Tehran's cooperation in halting their march toward a nuclear weapon. As Robert Kagan put it, "[Obama's] policy toward Iran makes sense, so long as he is ready with a serious Plan B if the negotiating track with Tehran fails." The October non-surprise will be the revelation that Bush wasn't merely neglecting to smile at the mullahs and to ask nicely.

Finally, there's the strange and frankly unsettling image makeover of the Saudi royals. The Bush family's alleged intimacy with an extremist monarchy formed the very backbone of the anti-Bush industry. Yet, upon taking office Barack Obama commented on the bravery of King Abdullah and went on to virtually adopt the Saudi Peace Initiative as American policy. The administration is also seriously considering sending released Guantanamo detainees through the Saudi "jihad rehab" program. A week ago, "60 Minutes" aired a prime-time broadcast praising the same absurdity. The free pass Barack Obama gets on his all-encompassing embrace of Riyadh leaves the score of anti-Bush best sellers and documentaries looking a little less than credible.

President Obama, and the country at large, is finding out that George W. Bush's most controversial policies were not born of ideological delusion, American arrogance, or missionary zeal. They were imperfect but sound (with the exception of our ties to Riyadh) responses to complicated threats. But the validation of the last president runs a very distant second to the most compelling aspect of all this: the drama over CIA interrogations and Guantanamo will hopefully serve to set the administration on a more serious national security course. And it would be helpful if the American public finally dropped moral outrage as the preferred mode of political argumentation.

[rabscuttle385]

Look, I am tired of the neocons and the RNC/GOP shills. They are no better than their liberal Rat counterparts. They have no legitimate interest in less government or individual freedom but only their own ends, and as such, according to them, it’s alright to borrow like there’s no tomorrow (a de facto tax increase on future generations), to control and manipulate the economy using the Federal apparatus, to run ram-shod over the Constitution, and to wage illegal wars on any country that dares disagree with them.

[rabscuttle385]

You idiots are pinging each other. Pathetic.

If you want to call folks on my ping list "idiots," then why don't you do it directly? The list of ping list recipients is on my Freeper home page.

I don't support Government intervention in the economy, regardless of whether a Republican or a Democrat is the one in charge.

"Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." —Ronald Reagan

[wmfights]

Bush was a good President. We all already know that he didn’t do what zulu wanted 100 percent of the time.

Thank you.

BDS on the right is even worse than what we see on the left. Bush was not to my liking on the domestic front, but on foreign policy he was exceptional.

In addition to killing a great many terrorists he started the process of creating representative govt in the middle east (other than Israel). Also, he opened greater relations with India. Remarkable feats that I pray 0 doesn't destroy.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”I suggest The Wall Street Journal or the Fox Business channel. “

Fox Business channel??
Neil Cavuto (FBC Manager) was a major critic of the ‘Debt-ulus’ that Bush passed with Pelosi as well as the bailouts and takeovers that you are claiming brought us this recovery. Bush/Pelosi had the same idea as Obama, use a economic slowdown as an excuse for the government to increase power,and at the same time sell the unborn into debt slavery

[Deb]

Blah, blah, blah...Third party hack. Your brain farts have become tiresome.

Won't your playmates come to your defense? Keep crying and begging for help, I'm sure someone will show up.

[djsherin]

Do you believe “stimulus” bills actually stimulate the economy, or that spending drives the economy?

[Deb]

Try to keep up, loser. The economy is turning around as Cavuto admitted yesterday.

PS: You idiots are pinging each other. Try fighting your own brain dead battles.

[wmfights]

I was in the navy for 21 years, and I was near Baghdad, in the Triangle of Death, in a marine infantry battalion, Sept. 2004-Mar. ‘05. While I was there, I rarely heard my co-workers (mostly marines and soldiers) complain about American presence, in Iraq.

Thank you for your service.

[Deb]

I don’t know, I’m just passing on what is being reported.

[Liz]

I am tired of the neocons and the RNC/GOP shills. They are no better than their liberal Rat counterparts. They have no legitimate interest in less government or individual freedom but only their own ends, to control and manipulate the economy using the Federal apparatus, to run ram-shod over the Constitution, and to wage illegal wars on any country that dares disagree with them.

Mmmmmmmm.........music to my ears. Play it again, Sam.

[djsherin]

What exactly is being reported and by whom?

[wmfights]

Then why oppose the Obama stimulus? Or the Government takeovers of AIG, Chrysler, and GM?

Let's not forget the proposals to help insurers, newspapers, liberal broadcasters, and my favorite upside down monetary policy. We now have the Fed buying ever increasing amounts of Treasuries.

[wmfights]

The economy is coming back without the Obama "stimulus".

How are you figuring the economy is coming back?

[Deb]

If you didn’t read what I said...why did you jump in? Geez.

[rabscuttle385]

I don’t know, I’m just passing on what is being reported.

It makes more sense that bonuses given to AIG and Citibank execs would filter down to this family for the Dad's work on exec. home repairs and extensions than the government handing them a check.
34 posted on Sat May 09 2009 15:33:44 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)

Uh huh.

Bonuses funded by government money...sure.

Let's see: direct payments to bank executives or to families? How about NONE OF THE ABOVE? How about LESS GOVERNMENT to begin with?

[b4its2late]

Obama’s making messes.

[djsherin]

I only saw your other posts after I responded.

So Fox and the WSJ report that the economy is recovering. Does that make it so? There was a large rally after the initial stock plunge of the Great Depression. Bear Market Rallies are not unheard of and are in fact quite common. I don’t remember any of these people saying that there was anything wrong with the US economy, or that recession was on the horizon.

[Deb]

Go read what i said...or not.