I'm not sure what made me wonder about it the other day, but the question occurred to me and I asked my wife:
In George W. Bush's last days in office, what kind of things will be said about him by the media and by the pundits?
Now, I know you're probably thinking sarcastically ... wow, what an interesting life you must lead to be having those kinds of conversations with your wife. Trust me, we find ourselves in these kinds of conversations all the time.
The reason I ask is that with one exception, Ronald Reagan, every president in my lifetime left with some sort of cloud or electoral rejection hanging over his exit. But when it came time for them to leave office, what was said about them was mostly kind and respectful.
But in many opinions, George W. Bush will go down as one of the worst presidents in our history - if not the worst. His approval percentage would barely be a respectable batting average in baseball. This year's presidential election is in great part a referendum on the last eight years. How else can you explain Barack Obama and John McCain?
I suspect that, once the election is settled and the public's focus shifts to the end of Bush's term, a lot of the pent-up contempt will be heaped at him as he leaves. I think there will be a lot of discussion about where Bush's place in history will be, and it isn't likely to be favorable.
I think much of what will be written and said will be like this, which is published on the George Mason University's History News Network's Web site. It is a response from a historian to a survey of where Bush's presidency will rank historically:
"No individual president can compare to the second Bush," the historian wrote. "Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world's goodwill. In short, no other president's faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large."
My wife, however, believes people will do what they always do, wax nostalgic about what they liked about the president and gloss over his faults.
And maybe that's the right thing to do.
What do you think? What will be said? And what should be said?
In George W. Bush's last days in office, what kind of things will be said about him by the media and by the pundits?
Now, I know you're probably thinking sarcastically ... wow, what an interesting life you must lead to be having those kinds of conversations with your wife. Trust me, we find ourselves in these kinds of conversations all the time.
The reason I ask is that with one exception, Ronald Reagan, every president in my lifetime left with some sort of cloud or electoral rejection hanging over his exit. But when it came time for them to leave office, what was said about them was mostly kind and respectful.
But in many opinions, George W. Bush will go down as one of the worst presidents in our history - if not the worst. His approval percentage would barely be a respectable batting average in baseball. This year's presidential election is in great part a referendum on the last eight years. How else can you explain Barack Obama and John McCain?
I suspect that, once the election is settled and the public's focus shifts to the end of Bush's term, a lot of the pent-up contempt will be heaped at him as he leaves. I think there will be a lot of discussion about where Bush's place in history will be, and it isn't likely to be favorable.
I think much of what will be written and said will be like this, which is published on the George Mason University's History News Network's Web site. It is a response from a historian to a survey of where Bush's presidency will rank historically:
"No individual president can compare to the second Bush," the historian wrote. "Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world's goodwill. In short, no other president's faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large."
My wife, however, believes people will do what they always do, wax nostalgic about what they liked about the president and gloss over his faults.
And maybe that's the right thing to do.
What do you think? What will be said? And what should be said?
