Politics Over Truth

More than two years have passed since George W. Bush left the Oval Office to return to private life, and still his legacy remains one of unanswered questions and general uncertainty. The once ultra popular man went on a midterm spiral into the abyss of low polling before leaving office with scholars attempting to label him as one of the worst presidents of all time, and his rather timid responses to critics have done little to cut a swath and better explain the realities from his term of office. But while these are up in the air, it's important to make a note of several key policies and how they relate to his lower numbers during his tenure as commander-in-chief.

One, the issue of Iraq and the seeming failure of Whitehouse intelligence regarding WMDs is a factor used to malign Bush for his performance while in office. Unfortunately, this argument contains a number of massive holes which prevent it from being ideal against the testing of history. Not only did America discover chemicals weapons in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, but reports suggest a number of convoys that left Iraq for Syria in the months leading up to the invasion in 2003, as well as a mysterious Special Operations attack near the Lebanese border never fully acknowledged by the U.S. Government in which a number of elite forces are thought to have been massacred. Additionally, discoveries of partial weapons development made it clear that Hussein could have at the very least created the arms if necessary.

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To address the ever-staggering claim that Bush did not respond enough to Hurricane Katrina it is important to note the legal ramifications which such a move might have had on his presidency. Authority for the deployment of federal troops must be authorized by the governor of the target state in writing, yet Kathleen Blanco refused to comply for several days, hanging out the president to dry while Louisianans suffered terribly. Despite repeated attempts in which he beseeched the governor to change her mind, no action came out of the executive's office until the damage had been done--both political and actual.

Possibly the final corner on which his detractors love operating is that the 43rd President allowed the financial markets to collapse in 2008 through his tax cut policies. Now, considering the involvement in two largely unavoidable wars, this was certainly expected, yet to lump the blame on the president is both short-sighted and unfair. Bush began in 2003 to urge Congress to pass dramatic regulations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, yet the thin Republican majority in both houses was inadequate to accomplish the job. Democrats filibustered the attempts repeatedly, and denied the president support even when the came into office in 2007. Because (and thank God) the president is not a dictator, Bush was powerless to regulate the markets without Democrat support, and so they fell into a tailspin during his last few months in office.

George W. Bush may not turn out to be the greatest president of all time, yet without a shadow of doubt his legacy must be respected with the truth--not some poor excuse for partisan hit jobbery. If America wants to remain free, then it must have honest reporting and fair assessments; neither of which were given to the former president. It is time for some well-needed change.



Andrew Rimmer

National Alliance Vice President for Communications