"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."--Sir Winston Churchill
During Bush's 8 years as President he has endured much criticism. What has bothered me the most is the heat he has taken from conservatives. For some reason, many seem to have forgotten all of the good that Bush has done. And if I were to be critical of Bush for one thing, it would be that he didn't do a good job of defending himself against his critics and many of their unfair attacks.
All of this came to a head during the Immigration debacle. During that time the Anchoress did two excellent posts that expressed exactly how I and others felt. Here is an excerpt from the first post:
"That made me wonder a little - has President Bush lost his bearings, or have we? Is it President Bush who has broken faith with “his base” or have they?
When I read my friend’s line, I thought of a line from Pride and Prejudice, in which Elizabeth Bennett says in new appreciation of Mr. Darcy, “In essentials, I believe, he is very much what he ever was.”
Perhaps I am a dim bulb, but President Bush has never surprised me, and that is probably why I have never felt let down or “betrayed” by him. He is, in essentials, precisely who he has ever been. He did not surprise me when he managed, in August of 2001, to find a morally workable solution in the matter of Embryonic Stem Cells. He did not surprise me when, a month later, he stood on a pile of rubble and lifted a broken city from its knees. When my NYFD friends told me of the enormous consolation and strength he brought to his meetings with grieving families, I was not surprised. When the World Series opened in New York City and the President was invited to throw the first pitch, there was no surprise in his throwing (while wearing body armor) a perfect strike.
And now, the Great Big Immigration Imbroglio of ‘06 has turned “the base” quite vicious. President Bush is no longer simply a moron or an idiot to his base, he is a bad man. He is a bad American. He is a bad president. Everything he does now, is wrong. As yesterday’s WSJ pointed out, Bush is closer to the deified Ronald Reagan on this issue than anyone on the right wants to admit. And they’d never do to Reagan what they are doing to Bush.
How you receive a good has a lot to do with whether any more “good” comes your way. The Conservatives got a “good” in 2000 and 2004; they’re receiving it very badly, indeed. I think the throwing-under-the-bus-of-George-W-Bush by “the base” is one of the most shameful things I have ever witnessed in all my years of watching politics, from both sides of the political spectrum. How do you receive a good?
President Bush has never surprised me. He is, in essentials, the man he ever was. It does not surprise me that he is a Christian man living a creed before he is a President, that he is a President before he is a Conservative. It seems to me precisely the right order of things.
You don’t have to agree with everything President Bush does; I don’t. But he deserves a lot better than he’s getting from his own side. He deserves, dare I say it, a spirit of compromise and workability, as opposed to the hard-line demand for a “perfect” solution (one which will never pass congress) to a problem no one else in government has even dared to even address.
You “base” have received a great good. You’ve forgotten it. Continue to do so at your - at all our - great peril."
In her 2nd post she had an extensive list of the many things that Bush had done right. I and others posted the list and I highlighted all of the things that especially rang true. I post the list once again as a reminder to all of us of what Bush has accomplished in his 8 years. I dare say that this is much more than what would've been accomplished by any other Republican that was running this time around.
--Did he protect us from the reach & province of the International Criminal Court? Yes.Previously:
--Did he keep us from the Kyoto mess that is currently tying up Europe? Yes.
--Did he create a workable alternative to Kyoto that other countries have embraced? Yes. Bet you didn’t know that!
--Have US Carbon Emissions decreased on his watch, without Kyoto? Yes.
--Did he submit a comprehensive energy plan that got killed by a weak congress? Yes.
--Did he cut taxes? Twice? Yes. And yes.
--Did he try to get the cuts made permanent? Yes. Congress dropped that ball.
--Did he stop government funding of EMBRYONIC stem cell research? Yes.
--Has he kept the promises he made as he held a dead cop’s shield before the Joint Houses? Yes.
--Did he go after the Taliban and AlQaeda in Afghanistan barely a month after 9/11? Yes.
--Has he been unflagging in his efforts to subdue terrorism, worldwide? Yes.
--Has be been the consistent voice for human liberty around the globe? Yes.
--After some serious missteps, is the surge working? Yes.
--Has he been a staunch friend to Israel, the only stable democracy in a frantic region? Yes.
--Did he end the farce of world-wide Arafat admiration? Yes
--Did he remove Saddam Hussein, whose state supported terrorists, from power? Yes.
--Did he invade Iraq at a time when the whole world believed Saddam had and “would use” WMD? Yes.
--Did he bring a much-maligned coalition with him? Yes. Some are still there.
--Did he liberate 50,000 people in keeping with the ideals of the 1998 Iraqi Liberation Act? Yes.
--Has he inspired the Iraqi people to finally believe enough in freedom to fight AlQaeda with us? YES!
--Has he figured out that a free and engaged Middle East makes America safer? Yes.
--Has he kept you safe since 9/11? So safe that you’ve almost forgotten to fear? Yes.
--Did he remove “the wall” between the CIA and the FBI? Yes.
--Did he go to the UN before invading Iraq? Yes.
--Did he tell the UN that the US would never ask permission to defend herself? Yes.
--Did he inspire Libya to surrender it’s WMD without firing a shot? Yes.
--Did he appoint excellent SCOTUS and Federal Judges to the bench? Yes.
--Did he implement the NSA terrorist eavesdropping program? Yes.
--Did he immediately move to freeze assets and make terror funding more difficult? Yes.
--Did he reform Medicare? Yes.
--Did he reform Social Security to give you more power over your money? He tried. See Congress.
--Does he say what he means and mean what he says? Yes.
--Did he try to address immigration, when the houses in his party? Yes.
--Does he support the second amendment? Yes.
--Does he support school vouchers and school choice? Yes.
--Did he sign the ban on Partial Birth Abortion? Yes. It went to court, but he signed it.
--Did he reverse Clinton’s intent to kill Reagan’s pro-life Mexico policy? Yes.
--Did he support the Defense of Marriage Act? Yes. That used to be vitally important to you.
--Did he expand the roles of faith-based organizations in social programs? Yes.
--Did he prosecute the white-collar criminals like Ken Lay who ran riot through the ‘90’s? Yes.
--Has he handled himself with enormous courage, dignity and grace in the face of world/media/hate?
--Is he a man with a creed before he’s anything else? Yes.
--Did he establish Health Savings accounts? Yes.
--Did he have the Border Patrol installing monitoring devices along the borders? Yes.
--Has he made mistakes? Yes. Some undeniable beauts.
--Has he been an imperfect president? Yes.
--Has he spent too much? Probably.
--Has he given you most of what you’ve wanted? Actually, looking at the list…yes!
--Has he dared to disagree with anyone to keep his principles, even you? Yes.
More on the Immigration Debate
Freedom, Justice, Honor, Duty, Mercy & Hope
I'm Extremely Proud of My President
President Bush Addresses the Nation
You Go Bush!!!
You Go Bush #2!!
No More Partial Birth Abortions
In Defense of the War and George W. Bush--Part 1
In Defense of the War and George W. Bush--Part 2
The State of our Union is Strong
Bush Thank-a-thon Links:
President Bush's Final Address to the Nation
Remember the "W"
Bush Thankathon Continues: Bush, "The People's President."
President Bush
Bush Farewell Address-- He Liberated Millions... He Kept Us Safe
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