Magnum Opus: Bush 43
I have been thinking a great deal about Presidential legacies lately, largely because of Gerald Ford's December 26 death and the Bush-related "thumping" of the GOP on November 7. That, and I had a very strange dream last night, as I so often do. I dreamt that I had to write a very important research paper about President Franklin Pierce, but could only find two very short, unhelpful sources...not a good thing, if you're a history major like me. I was frantic, running here and there, all over town, from one place to the next, looking for a freaking biography of the New Hampshire man who lived in the White House from 1853 until 1857. No such luck.
Upon awaking, I realized that my "nightmare" had been quite realistic. There are certain poor souls who go down in history as either mediocre or worthless, despite being placed in glorious positions at pivotal moments. Franklin Pierce and his successor, James Buchanan, may be the epitome of such individuals, at least in our nation's history. It took someone like rail-splitting Illinois country boy Abraham Lincoln to finally use the Presidency to accomplish something--namely, the dismantling of slavery and re-establishment of the Union--the first executive to really wield power (aside from James K. Polk, 1845-1849) since Jackson in 1837, twenty-four unbearably long years earlier.
And so I begin to wonder if we are in a similar period right now. Our last President who deeply exhibited those qualities so vital to a good or great President--integrity, honesty, intellect, strength, political tact, and conviction--was Ronald Reagan, who left office in 1989...has it already been 18 years? Since then we've had George Herbert Walker Bush, shrewd and upright in his handling of the Persian Gulf War and the final collapse of Gorbachev's Soviet regime, but equally indifferent to the economic plight of middle-class Americans and not real passionate about the prospect of another term, as evidenced by the infamous watch-checking incident during his final debate with Clinton in Richmond. (I lived there at the time.)
Next was William Jefferson Clinton, perhaps our country's most "morally bankrupt" President of all time (at least sexually)--and that's saying a lot, considering Nixon and all his tendencies. Cheating on his wife with numerous women, having sex in the Oval Office where Lincoln freed the slaves, lying directly to 250 million anxious American citizens, passing on a 1996 offer by the government of Sudan to extradite a rising star in the radical Muslim world named Osama bin Laden... Not to mention the Whitewater scandal and allegedly making off with White House furniture in January 2001.
That brings us to George Walker Bush. Let this be my magnum opus on the eventual legacy of Chief Executive #43. For those of you who don't know, a magnum opus is the classic, quintessential work of a certain author or artist, particularly on a subject of great importance to that person. In addition, it generally contains those things a person is absolutely sure of about a given subject, in spite of other possible enigmas and uncertainties. I seriously doubt this blog will ever be of such historic importance, but I will do my best to write those feelings about, and impressions of, George W. Bush that are never likely to change for me.
First of all, I believe there are two major distinctions that Bush will hold, even if historians one day declare him our worst President (considering those like Buchanan and Clinton, I doubt that will happen). The first distinction is that of controversy...I believe Bush 43 ranks in the top five regarding that designation--first-to-be-impeached (but not convicted) Andrew Johnson, failed Vietnam War architect Lyndon Johnson, nymphomaniac and liar Bill Clinton, and paranoid power-craver Richard Nixon being the other four. Lincoln, Jackson, and others were very controversial during their years in office, but history has proven them to be morally upright, iconic heroes. Secondly, I believe Bush will forever be remembered as one of our most powerful Presidents--a man not afraid to make unpopular decisions and flesh out the very limits of his constitutional authority. In this regard he is rivaled only by FDR, Andrew Jackson, Lyndon Johnson, and again...Lincoln. Lincoln briefly suspended habeus corpus at the beginning of the Civil War, instituted our first draft, and issued the boldest Presidential declaration in history, the Emancipation Proclamation. Bush, meanwhile, has launched two major military campaigns overseas, deposed two dictators, mostly ignored the UN and EU (sometimes rightfully), carried out a domestic surveillance and wiretapping program (as did Democrat FDR), created massive new bureaucracies despite being a "conservative," and continued his policies unblinkingly in the face of a 30-percent approval rating. That takes stubbornness, and that takes power. Much of his assertive decision-making has been shored up by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, firm believers in Presidential license.
As this blog is already much longer than I had intended, I will "attempt" to close. Had Bush been a one-term President, he might have gone down as one of our best execs to serve just four years. He strongly boosted our morale after 9/11, successfully liberated Afghanistan, employed new terrorist surveillance strategies, led the charge against partial-birth abortion, began campaign finance reform, made effective tax cuts, supported faith-based programs to help the poor, and even filled the spare moments with a good sense of humor and a little self-deprecation. So what happened, you ask? He didn't just serve one term, and now his legacy will almost certainly be hitched to one miserable word that has symbolized his second term (and part of his first): Iraq. As fair or unfair as it may be, I have made peace with that reality. Bush and Iraq will forever be inextricably tied, whether it miraculously turns around or concludes as an astounding failure (in spite of Saddam's deserved defeat). In closing this quintessential "magnum opus" regarding Bush, I will restate what I know beyond a doubt: he will go down as one of our most controversial, yet powerful (or at least aggressive), commanders-in-chief, and will be shown in textbooks centuries from now with Iraq around his neck, either as a glowing laurel or a ponderous millstone. I hope and pray it is the former.
Upon awaking, I realized that my "nightmare" had been quite realistic. There are certain poor souls who go down in history as either mediocre or worthless, despite being placed in glorious positions at pivotal moments. Franklin Pierce and his successor, James Buchanan, may be the epitome of such individuals, at least in our nation's history. It took someone like rail-splitting Illinois country boy Abraham Lincoln to finally use the Presidency to accomplish something--namely, the dismantling of slavery and re-establishment of the Union--the first executive to really wield power (aside from James K. Polk, 1845-1849) since Jackson in 1837, twenty-four unbearably long years earlier.
And so I begin to wonder if we are in a similar period right now. Our last President who deeply exhibited those qualities so vital to a good or great President--integrity, honesty, intellect, strength, political tact, and conviction--was Ronald Reagan, who left office in 1989...has it already been 18 years? Since then we've had George Herbert Walker Bush, shrewd and upright in his handling of the Persian Gulf War and the final collapse of Gorbachev's Soviet regime, but equally indifferent to the economic plight of middle-class Americans and not real passionate about the prospect of another term, as evidenced by the infamous watch-checking incident during his final debate with Clinton in Richmond. (I lived there at the time.)
Next was William Jefferson Clinton, perhaps our country's most "morally bankrupt" President of all time (at least sexually)--and that's saying a lot, considering Nixon and all his tendencies. Cheating on his wife with numerous women, having sex in the Oval Office where Lincoln freed the slaves, lying directly to 250 million anxious American citizens, passing on a 1996 offer by the government of Sudan to extradite a rising star in the radical Muslim world named Osama bin Laden... Not to mention the Whitewater scandal and allegedly making off with White House furniture in January 2001.
That brings us to George Walker Bush. Let this be my magnum opus on the eventual legacy of Chief Executive #43. For those of you who don't know, a magnum opus is the classic, quintessential work of a certain author or artist, particularly on a subject of great importance to that person. In addition, it generally contains those things a person is absolutely sure of about a given subject, in spite of other possible enigmas and uncertainties. I seriously doubt this blog will ever be of such historic importance, but I will do my best to write those feelings about, and impressions of, George W. Bush that are never likely to change for me.
First of all, I believe there are two major distinctions that Bush will hold, even if historians one day declare him our worst President (considering those like Buchanan and Clinton, I doubt that will happen). The first distinction is that of controversy...I believe Bush 43 ranks in the top five regarding that designation--first-to-be-impeached (but not convicted) Andrew Johnson, failed Vietnam War architect Lyndon Johnson, nymphomaniac and liar Bill Clinton, and paranoid power-craver Richard Nixon being the other four. Lincoln, Jackson, and others were very controversial during their years in office, but history has proven them to be morally upright, iconic heroes. Secondly, I believe Bush will forever be remembered as one of our most powerful Presidents--a man not afraid to make unpopular decisions and flesh out the very limits of his constitutional authority. In this regard he is rivaled only by FDR, Andrew Jackson, Lyndon Johnson, and again...Lincoln. Lincoln briefly suspended habeus corpus at the beginning of the Civil War, instituted our first draft, and issued the boldest Presidential declaration in history, the Emancipation Proclamation. Bush, meanwhile, has launched two major military campaigns overseas, deposed two dictators, mostly ignored the UN and EU (sometimes rightfully), carried out a domestic surveillance and wiretapping program (as did Democrat FDR), created massive new bureaucracies despite being a "conservative," and continued his policies unblinkingly in the face of a 30-percent approval rating. That takes stubbornness, and that takes power. Much of his assertive decision-making has been shored up by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, firm believers in Presidential license.
As this blog is already much longer than I had intended, I will "attempt" to close. Had Bush been a one-term President, he might have gone down as one of our best execs to serve just four years. He strongly boosted our morale after 9/11, successfully liberated Afghanistan, employed new terrorist surveillance strategies, led the charge against partial-birth abortion, began campaign finance reform, made effective tax cuts, supported faith-based programs to help the poor, and even filled the spare moments with a good sense of humor and a little self-deprecation. So what happened, you ask? He didn't just serve one term, and now his legacy will almost certainly be hitched to one miserable word that has symbolized his second term (and part of his first): Iraq. As fair or unfair as it may be, I have made peace with that reality. Bush and Iraq will forever be inextricably tied, whether it miraculously turns around or concludes as an astounding failure (in spite of Saddam's deserved defeat). In closing this quintessential "magnum opus" regarding Bush, I will restate what I know beyond a doubt: he will go down as one of our most controversial, yet powerful (or at least aggressive), commanders-in-chief, and will be shown in textbooks centuries from now with Iraq around his neck, either as a glowing laurel or a ponderous millstone. I hope and pray it is the former.
posted by Douglas Schrock at 7:21 PM
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