I just wish W had been more verbal in his last year. It is as if he allowed the press and his critics to run the show and call the shots. He never fought back with the truth....he didn't use the bully pulpit that he had on hand.
Bush will have his time to defend himself. God knows I defended him and the most frustrating thing about him was he failed to defend himself. It is interesting how transitions are made and times move on. Bush was right for his time. He set the stage which is playing out right now. Just like the battle between the “old warrior” and the “young king” set the path to what we see now. Obama is playing his role which is one of showing us what we really need by giving us what we do not want. Thus we get the Tea Parties and the stage is set for a real resurgence of a proud conservatism based in the Jeffersonian mold.
Many of us agree. I attribute his demeanor in office to being a good Christian who was raised by first class parents.
He also had an appreciation that the opposing side had their own personal situations to attend to, their own constituents whom they must please. He never took things personally.
In Texas he became good friends with the archenemy, the firebrand Democrat Speaker of the House, and together they got much done. I think he thought that Texas politics would transfer to Washington without realizing how treacherous the national Democrats really are.
I was disappointed that he did not go after the Clintons and the Democrats on a variety of fronts when he first took office. Had he, Slick and some others may have ended up in prison and he may have driven a stake through the heart of the Democrat Party for a long time. Instead, and despite the Democrats contesting the 2000 election and withholding transition funds he needed to prepare for assuming office, he chose the high road and turned the other cheek. He was going to "set a new tone in Washington."
The Democrats reciprocated by steadily blasting him at every turn for eight years. They tried to assure our defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq just as they had previously betrayed the Vietnamese. They called Bush every name in the book but he stayed on the high road. He felt that history would exonerate him but I don't think he realized what he was doing to the country by not standing up to the onslaught. He was willing to take the heat personally but I don't think he saw beyond that. So, we got Obama.
I also think that because of the way he was treated when he took office he made sure to not do the same to Obama. I think that after the September 16, 2008 financial bomb was dropped, which triggered the "financial crisis", he made many decisions with deference to the incoming administration, like the naming of Bernake and Paulson to key positions. He also spent some TARP funds early at the request of the Obama administration. They returned the favor by blasting him for "the deficit" caused by that action and called it his deficit although he did it for them. They continue to thank him by blaming all the ills they cause on him.
I don't think Bush grasped the gravity of the situation with these Democrats. I don't expect his book to be much different. It will be full of explanations but no blame.