President Bush gave his final press conference today and it’s definitely worth the time to watch the whole thing. Lots of good quotes to highlight but one that Ace brought up that I believe bears repeating. He asked a reporter “Do you remember what it was like after 9/11?”
As Ace said….No they do not.
The whole part on his legacy:
Jake Tapper: In the past, when you’ve been asked to address bad poll numbers or your own popularity, you’ve said that history will judge that you did the right thing, that you thought you did the right thing. But without getting into your motives or your goals, I think a lot of people, including Republicans, including some members of your own administration, have been disappointed at the execution of some of your ideals, whether Iraq or Katrina or the economy. What would your closing message be to the American people about the execution of these goals?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, hard things don’t happen overnight, Jake. And when the history of Iraq is written, historians will analyze, for example, the decision on the surge. The situation was — looked like it was going fine and then violence for a period of time began to throw — throw the progress of Iraq into doubt. And rather than accepting the status quo and saying, oh, it’s not worth it or the politics makes it difficult or, you know, the party may end up being — you know, not doing well in the elections because of the violence in Iraq, I decided to do something about it — and sent 30,000 troops in as opposed to withdrawing.
And so that part of history is certain, and the situation did change. Now the question is, in the long run, will this democracy survive? And that’s going to be the challenge for future Presidents.
In terms of the economy, look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession. In the meantime there were 52 months of uninterrupted job growth. And I defended tax cuts when I campaigned, I helped implement tax cuts when I was President, and I will defend them after my presidency as the right course of action. And there’s a fundamental philosophical debate about tax cuts. Who best can spend your money, the government or you? And I have always sided with the people on that issue.
Now, obviously these are very difficult economic times. When people analyze the situation, there will be — this problem started before my presidency, it obviously took place during my presidency. The question facing a President is not when the problem started, but what did you do about it when you recognized the problem. And I readily concede I chunked aside some of my free market principles when I was told by chief economic advisors that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression.
So I’ve told some of my friends who said — you know, who have taken an ideological position on this issue — why did you do what you did? I said, well, if you were sitting there and heard that the depression could be greater than the Great Depression, I hope you would act too, which I did.
Fred Barnes did an excellent synopsis on the great things Bush has achieved:
…His presidency was far more successful than not. And there’s an aspect of his decision-making that merits special recognition: his courage. Time and time again, Bush did what other presidents, even Ronald Reagan, would not have done and for which he was vilified and abused. That–defiantly doing the right thing–is what distinguished his presidency.
Bush had ten great achievements (and maybe more) in his eight years in the White House, starting with his decision in 2001 to jettison the Kyoto global warming treaty so loved by Al Gore, the environmental lobby, elite opinion, and Europeans. The treaty was a disaster, with India and China exempted and economic decline the certain result. Everyone knew it. But only Bush said so and acted accordingly.
He stood athwart mounting global warming hysteria and yelled, “Stop!” He slowed the movement toward a policy blunder of worldwide impact, providing time for facts to catch up with the dubious claims of alarmists. Thanks in part to Bush, the supposed consensus of scientists on global warming has now collapsed. The skeptics, who point to global cooling over the past decade, are now heard loud and clear. And a rational approach to the theory of manmade global warming is possible.
Second, enhanced interrogation of terrorists. Along with use of secret prisons and wireless eavesdropping, this saved American lives. How many thousands of lives? We’ll never know. But, as Charles Krauthammer said recently, “Those are precisely the elements which kept us safe and which have prevented a second attack.”
Crucial intelligence was obtained from captured al Qaeda leaders, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, with the help of waterboarding. Whether this tactic–it creates a drowning sensation–is torture is a matter of debate. John McCain and many Democrats say it is. Bush and Vice President Cheney insist it isn’t. In any case, it was necessary. Lincoln once made a similar point in defending his suspension of habeas corpus in direct defiance of Chief Justice Roger Taney. “Are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated?” Lincoln asked. Bush understood the answer in wartime had to be no.
Bush’s third achievement was the rebuilding of presidential authority, badly degraded in the era of Vietnam, Watergate, and Bill Clinton. He didn’t hesitate to conduct wireless surveillance of terrorists without getting a federal judge’s okay. He decided on his own how to treat terrorists and where they should be imprisoned. Those were legitimate decisions for which the president, as commander in chief, should feel no need to apologize.
~~~Sixth, Bush declared in his second inaugural address in 2005 that American foreign policy (at least his) would henceforth focus on promoting democracy around the world. This put him squarely in the Reagan camp, but he was lambasted as unrealistic, impractical, and a tool of wily neoconservatives. The new policy gave Bush credibility in pressing for democracy in the former Soviet republics and Middle East and in zinging various dictators and kleptocrats. It will do the same for President Obama, if he’s wise enough to hang onto it.
~~~Then there were John Roberts and Sam Alito. In putting them on the Supreme Court and naming Roberts chief justice, Bush achieved what had eluded Richard Nixon, Reagan, and his own father. Roberts and Alito made the Court indisputably more conservative. And the good news is Roberts, 53, and Alito, 58, should be justices for decades to come.
~~~Finally, a no-brainer: the surge. Bush prompted nearly unanimous disapproval in January 2007 when he announced he was sending more troops to Iraq and adopting a new counterinsurgency strategy. His opponents initially included the State Department, the Pentagon, most of Congress, the media, the foreign policy establishment, indeed the whole world. This makes his decision a profile in courage. Best of all, the surge worked. Iraq is now a fragile but functioning democracy.
He achieved many great things, much of which the FA writers will be writing about over the next week during the Bush Thankathon.
Watch the conference below in seven parts:
See author page
Good post. I thought he had good answers.
The sad part, however, is that it took him until his way out for him to defend himself.
That was one problem that always plagued his administration through both terms.
Hugs to George and Laura! May you have a great life!
shockd I agree with you that he should have fought back, but you have to admire a guy that withstood all the S##T flung at him with class. look at Obama he just might break down in tears at a hard question, if he ever gets one.
Heh, Glen Beck was just on Fox and Friends, quoted what Davy Crockett said when he left, what he thought President Bush could have said to the press but didn’t say. “You can all go to hell, I’m going to Texas.”
You americans are lucky to have such a morally clearminded and determined president.
He will go down in history as at least a decent president, if not a good one.