Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
It is traditional in America for a former president’s mistakes to be essentially forgiven the moment he leaves office, mostly out of respect for the position but also from a slight inclination to forget bad sections in American history. From Hoover to Clinton to Bush Sr. to even Nixon, once the president is out of office and is writing their nearly guaranteed book deal and doing PSAs for whatever the day’s crisis is, Americans tend to forgive whatever discrepancies- moral or political- happened under the prior administration. The same is true for the George W. Bush administration. As with many other previous presidents, the Bush administration has been essentially romanticized in the mind of Americans. Once considered an abject failure by most of left-wing America, the media and moderates in the country and a mild embarrassment by right-wing America, who worked throughout the 2008 campaign to keep Bush out of the public eye as much as possible, the actions of the Bush administration are becoming generally accepted, if not lauded.
But we are forgetting the reasons the Bush administration was considered a failure in the first place- and not for the reasons usually mentioned. Yes, the post-Hurricane Katrina cleanup and rescue was a complete disaster and a disgusting example of federal irresponsibility. Yes, the lies told to the American people after 9/11 about the situation in Iraq were truly heinous and led to shocking overreach by the executive branch, including the disregard for the rule of law seen throughout the presidency. Yes, the international relations that had taken years and many administrations to carefully build were essentially destroyed- but these are not the only major, crippling shortfalls of the Bush administration, nor are they the oversights that impacted the nation most in the long term.
The Bush administration set a reckless and shocking precedent for executive power in America. From the overwhelmingly political motivations of the Bush advisors to the president’s increasing trust in and funding of corporations and special interests, the entire presidency was political in a way that had never been seen in the White House before. Although plenty of past administrations have been political and made political deals- as it is nearly impossible to operate in Washington without being political to some measure- never before had a presidency dealt so much in politics instead of ideology. The administration was very conservative except when that ideology conflicted with the special interests they had financially promised to protect.
While it may seem superfluous to dwell on past mistakes of a former president, it is actually important that these trials are remembered and used as a lesson. The quicker that the bloating of executive power that occurred under George W. Bush is forgotten, the more likely any future president will be able to return to such unprecedented power. President Obama seems to have taken a very expected ‘forgive and forget’ policy when it comes to dealing with the prior president. However, Bush’s policies that last today are, therefore, being ignored rather than repudiated. President Obama needs to gain the political courage to take firm stances against Bush administration policies- both politically and legally. If he cannot or does not do this, there is nothing, no precedent to stop future administrations from acting in the dangerously unbalanced manner of the executively control-crazed former administration.
(Photo credit: newsone.com)
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But we are forgetting the reasons the Bush administration was considered a failure in the first place- and not for the reasons usually mentioned. Yes, the post-Hurricane Katrina cleanup and rescue was a complete disaster and a disgusting example of federal irresponsibility. Yes, the lies told to the American people after 9/11 about the situation in Iraq were truly heinous and led to shocking overreach by the executive branch, including the disregard for the rule of law seen throughout the presidency. Yes, the international relations that had taken years and many administrations to carefully build were essentially destroyed- but these are not the only major, crippling shortfalls of the Bush administration, nor are they the oversights that impacted the nation most in the long term.
The Bush administration set a reckless and shocking precedent for executive power in America. From the overwhelmingly political motivations of the Bush advisors to the president’s increasing trust in and funding of corporations and special interests, the entire presidency was political in a way that had never been seen in the White House before. Although plenty of past administrations have been political and made political deals- as it is nearly impossible to operate in Washington without being political to some measure- never before had a presidency dealt so much in politics instead of ideology. The administration was very conservative except when that ideology conflicted with the special interests they had financially promised to protect.
While it may seem superfluous to dwell on past mistakes of a former president, it is actually important that these trials are remembered and used as a lesson. The quicker that the bloating of executive power that occurred under George W. Bush is forgotten, the more likely any future president will be able to return to such unprecedented power. President Obama seems to have taken a very expected ‘forgive and forget’ policy when it comes to dealing with the prior president. However, Bush’s policies that last today are, therefore, being ignored rather than repudiated. President Obama needs to gain the political courage to take firm stances against Bush administration policies- both politically and legally. If he cannot or does not do this, there is nothing, no precedent to stop future administrations from acting in the dangerously unbalanced manner of the executively control-crazed former administration.
(Photo credit: newsone.com)
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