George W. Bush has been a convenient bad guy. He has been blamed for nearly every ill in American society at one time or another.
On November 12, Bush and the First Lady, Laura Bush, were interviewed by Dubya's sister, Doro Bush Koch, for a series of oral histories for the Library of Congress. When asked how he thinks he'll be remembered, Dubya became reflective: "I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process. I came to Washington with a set of values, and I"m leaving with the same set of values."
Bush is not totally to blame for his country's problems
By Andrew Hunt
From the Waterloo Region Record (January 7, 2007)
George W. Bush as become the J.R. Ewing of world politics. Like the reviled oil magnate J.R. from the eighties nighttime drama Dallas, Bush is a man people love to hate.
Militants in the streets of Amman and Calcutta torch his effigy. He has managed to alienate many of America's key allies around the world. Closer to home, Bush's critics are skewering him. Even conservatives are abandoning the sinking ship.
With his presidency winding down to its final two years, Bush is one of the least popular political figures in the world. In recent years, a cottage industry has sprung up around bashing the 43rd president of the United States. Anti-Bush books and merchandise -- everything from bumper stickers to T-shirts-- are selling like gangbusters in the U.S., while Bush-bashing websites are getting thousands of hits per day.
Lately, it has become fashionable for scholars to jump on the bandwagon, declaring Bush to be the worst president ever.
A 2004 poll of 401 historians taken by George Mason University in Virginia and the nonpartisan History News Network revealed that 80 per cent of respondents regard Bush's first term in office to be a failure. More than half considered it the worst presidency since Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), a third proclaimed it the worst in 100 years, and 11 percent called it the worst in American history.
Of course, historians in America tend to be a left-leaning bunch. As one historian quipped, "If historians were the only voters, Al Gore would have carried 50 states."
Even commentators with words of praise for the United States can't help taking jabs at Bush. In the recent Reader's Digest article America is a Force for Good, columnist Margaret Wente presented a largely sympathetic view of the nation's role in global affairs but dismissed the president as a "dim-witted cowboy."
Bush is an easy target, and dissing him nowadays is a risk-free act. Need we review, once more, the list of mishaps, catastrophes and missed opportunities since he first entered the White House? It is too lengthy for this space, but here are a few reminders: Tax cuts for the wealthy; more legislation favouring corporations; the continued dismantling of America's already tattered safety net; the transformation of a $230 billion federal budget surplus into a $500 billion deficit; the loss of millions of jobs overseas; the adoption of a dangerously unilateral foreign policy; and the curtailing of freedoms.
And topping the list, of course, is the Iraq War, which has turned that country into a charnel house.
But Bush was not single-handedly responsible for these disasters. Historically, American presidents have wielded great power, yet there are still plenty of checks and balances in place to safeguard the nation's democracy.
In fact, Bush has had plenty of enablers over the years. Too few members of Congress have spoken out against Bush's abuses of power. Too many mainstream media outlets accepted his half-truths and outright lies without challenge. His agenda has stirred little resistance from Republicans or Democrats. In November 2004, voters delivered Bush a victory over Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Of course, Kerry was far from perfect. However, by the fall of 2004, Bush's destructive track record was well-known for voters who cared to examine it.
Bush is now a convenient scapegoat for the nation's woes. His critics, unfortunately, make the mistake of treating him as if he alone is responsible for the current state of American politics. He is not. In fact, the triumph of Bush's agenda since 2001 is the responsibility of tens of millions of people across the country.
Under the guidance of his advisers, Bush has merely stretched the basic tenets of contemporary right-wing ideology -- a pro-corporate ethos, an unwavering support for militarism and the national security state, and religious extremism -- to their most extreme limits. And millions of people have marched lockstep behind him, even many who have been hurt by his policies.
So, while Bush may be unpopular now, his world view continues to dominate Washington politics. In two years, America will have a different president. But by vilifying Bush instead of his ideology, his critics have inadvertently left the status quo unscathed.
To improve matters, the leadership of the Democratic party must take steps to resuscitate the fighting liberalism of Franklin Roosevelt and Bobby Kennedy, to once again become fearless defenders of the middle class and powerless at home, and to deliver a measured, multilateral foreign policy abroad. If they fail to do so, then we can expect the ideology of Bush and his followers to hold sway over the nation's halls of power long after the end of his presidency.
Andrew Hunt is the chair of the History Department at the University of Waterloo.
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