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President Bush’s Legacy |
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During his final years in office, many commentators reported that President Bill Clinton was thinking deeply about how he wanted history to remember him. For a lot of people in my generation, who grew up during the Clinton years, his administration will be remembered as a time of relative peace and prosperity. America was not perfect, and Clinton made many mistakes, but I believe that many Americans, including conservative ones, felt secure and hopeful while Clinton was president. Despite the scandals that surrounded his presidency, when Clinton left office it was, in many ways, on a high note.
How will President George W. Bush be remembered? My hope is that, for the short term, he won’t be. History will judge the merits of the War in Iraq, the detainment and treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Bush’s relationship with the international community, and domestic policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act. But for the moment, one positive side effect of the current Democratic momentum is that Bush has been pushed off of center stage.
I point this out not to join the ranks of Bush-haters who gleefully seize on the President’s every flaw as fodder for mockery, but rather because I truly believe that his administration has weakened America and betrayed American values. If, as the newly elected Democratic Congress and newly declared Democratic presidential candidates continue to create a buzz around their ideas, activities, and accomplishments, this relegates the President to the sidelines, I believe that will be a good thing for America. Perhaps this will give more airtime to strategies that have a real chance of solving the quagmire in Iraq and dealing with America’s other problems, which are numerous and severe.
At a time when the President seems to offer no new ideas, inspiration from other quarters is crucial. Let’s focus our attention there.
The Clinton presidency will only be remembered for one thing, and its definately not peace. World War III could have happened at the end of his term, and he still will only be remembered for one thing. He discraced us as a nation more than Bush or any other presidnet could ever do. When terrorists were attacking US assests overseas, Clinton did nothing. all the embassy bombings, the USS Cole, and still nothing. God help us if Clinton had been in office when the towers were hit. He would have sent an apology to Bin Laden for our towers being in his way.