A farewell to the president

*Note: if you click on one link in this article, make it the Times of London story at the end*

*Further note: hyperlinks apparently don't work on this website. I apologize for the necessity of copy/pasting those links which you all wish to read.*

With only 72 hours until the inauguration of Barack Obama, I thought it fitting to write a sort of send off post to President Bush (who, like Nick Ramsey, has never heard of this blog). Such an endeavor is highly complicated when one sits down to write, however, because how can one capture the full sentiment and feeling of the past eight years? There are many major moments or events that stand out in the Bush presidency, primarily in my mind the response to the 9/11 attacks (up to and including the decision to pursue regime change in Iraq), the response to Hurricane Katrina, and the current recession. While President Bush has accomplished much in office (most of which, although not President Bush's astonishingly positive record in Africa [http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/11/bushs-record-in.html], is listed out in detail in this article by Counselor to George W Bush Ed Gillespie http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/myths_and_facts_about_the_real.html) his presidency, I believe, will be defined by his view and action toward the major issues of his presidency. Chief among those, the day where everything (at least appeared to) change, is 9/11.

Like most of us, I remember where I was on 9/11. I was in the 6th grade at Carl Junction Intermediate School. When the first plane hit I was participating in a bus evacuation drill before coming to school. When the second plane hit I was outside playing flag football during PE. Upon returning to home room, Ms. Jordan (she's been married since then) and other teachers were huddled around a television showing smoke spewing from the World Trade Center. Confused, I asked if the buildings were scheduled for demolition. Ms. Jordan responded that there had been a terrorist attack. The principle quickly made the decision that 4th-6th graders were too young to be exposed to the defining moment of their childhood and ordered all televisions and radios tuned off; the attacks were not to be mentioned or discussed. In history class, before Mrs. Campbell arrived (probably still catching the last few updates of the attacks before the censorship took effect), I remember sitting next to my friend Aaron Cervin (pronounced Ser-VEEN) and discussing what had happened. If America was attacked, we reasoned, war would follow. I remember, in the days that followed, my mom telling me how glad she was that Al Gore wasn't president (although it turns out it might not have made much difference according to this article http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/12/23/kelly-mcparland-would-gore-have-invaded-iraq-unquestionably-suggests-new-study.aspx) One thing was clear: we'd make somebody pay for the attacks. Now more than seven years later, we're still at war on that principle, with action in Afghanistan not looking like it will be winding down any time soon.

President Bush's response in the coming days and weeks, exemplified by the impromptu speech given to the workers and firefighters at Ground Zero on September 14 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiSwqaQ4VbA), gave him one of the highest approval ratings since Gallup began keeping track at 90% (http://www.gallup.com/poll/113641/Despite-Recent-Lows-Bush-Approval-Average-Midrange.aspx). However (as we all know) the months and years that followed would not be so kind. There were many reasons for going to war with Iraq but the administration chose to push the Weapons of Mass Destruction angle, one that, in hindsight, appears to not have existed since shortly after 1991 (whether or not Saddam was pursuing WMD is another matter, but most Americans expected them to be found in stockpiles). The situation in post-war Iraq was terrible. Ineptitude and the disbanding of the Iraqi army led to a large armed, unemployed, and angry populace with an invading army occupying the country. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's response to the looting of priceless Iraqi museums in Baghdad with "stuff happens" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY9l73Yo9Pw) followed by an obviously ill advised "Mission Accomplished" banner (not pictured in this clip, but an excerpt from the speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFijzDyJnVE) typified the Bush administration's seemingly uncaring policy toward the Iraqis and later, during Hurricane Katrina, to US citizens. As Iraq descended into civil war, Americans further questioned our reason for being in that country and, although historically the number of American casualties were low, the price we were paying to maintain our presence.

However, President Bush, against the advice of most of his advisers and generals, authored a surge of US forces into Iraq in an attempt to quell the violence. While debate remains about the role those additional troops actually played in securing the country (versus the Sunni Awakening or new tactics executed by General Petraeus) 2008 saw the United States combat troop deaths fall by 66% (http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/30/iraq.main/) while the United States government agreed to a phased withdrawal (or timetable) from Iraqi cities by summer and Iraq as a whole by the end of 2011. Meanwhile, however, Afghanistan is slipping further into chaos as the resurgent Taliban operate with impunity out of Pakistan. The economy has, to make an understatement, seen better days. Now, in under 72 hours, the world will watch as Barack Hussein Obama states his full name as he takes the oath of office on Abraham Lincoln's bible (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/23/obama-lincoln-bible-for-i_n_153052.html), and most of the world will be glad to see and hear from George W Bush no more.

I do not believe George W Bush to be an evil or uncaring man. Even Bush's record on his defining moment, 9/11, is mixed. On one hand, Osama bin Laden still remains free, probably somewhere in Pakistan. On the other hand, the American homeland has not suffered another terrorist attack after that Tuesday morning, when if one were to say that there would be no more attacks on September 12 the listener would probably think you were hopelessly naive. After 9/11, I think President Bush's vision for our country's future, for freedom in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the greater Middle East all in the interests of America's security, were more than admirable goals. However, sadly, Bush's idealistic version of the world has proven more complicated than he appears to have expected. Like Woodrow Wilson found when speaking of self-determination, the democratization of a people, country, or region, is a long and complex process if one can even influence it from the outside at all. This article, by Gerard Baker in the Times of London (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article5526323.ece) sums up best what I think the world will believe about President Bush in the future. He certainly had great aspirations for America's place in the world after 9/11. We are all the worse that his vision could not be realized in full.

Farewell, Mr. President. Thank you for your service.

Books read in 2008

Listed in alphabetical order by author's last name.
*disclaimer: books read for school are not included on this list*

1. Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America by Eric Alterman
2. Jennifer Government by Max Berry
3. Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter
4. Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush by Robert Draper
5. Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again by David Frum
6. When Every Moment Counts: What You Need to Know About Bioterrorism from the Senate’s Only Doctor by Bill Frist
7. 100 Myths About the Middle East by Fred Halliday
8. Cheney: The Untold Story of America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President by Stephen F. Hayes
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
10. In Defense of the Bush Doctrine by Robert Kaufman
11. After Bush: The Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy by Timothy J Lynch and Robert S. Singh
12. The Faith of George W Bush by Stephen Mansfield
13. Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir by John McCain and Mark Salter
14. World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism by Norman Podhoretz
15. Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism by Paul Starr
16. The Conservative Soul: Fundamentalism, Freedom, and the Future of the Right by Andrew Sullivan
17. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria