Posted on 12/28/2008 6:37:37 PM PST by jacjmm
History should judge President George W. Bush as one of America’s great Presidents. His record of accomplishment in both domestic and foreign policy, his grace in the face of unrivaled malevolence, his courage in the face of dreadful pressure, and his vision of a world made free are the stuff of greatness. Here is an abbreviated catalog of his accomplishments and virtues:
President George W. Bush has liberated 50 million people from two of the most ghastly regimes in world history. For those who would minimize those achievements, a comparison with the two other Presidential liberators is appropriate. Abraham Lincoln freed 4 million slaves—at a human cost far greater than our current President’s wars of liberation. And sadly, Lincoln’s liberation of the slaves was short lived; replaced by Jim Crow laws and the ascendancy of the Ku Klux Klan—a liberation only to be completely fulfilled 140 years later with the election of Sen. Obama to the Presidency. President Franklin Roosevelt’s war of liberation also was enormously costly: nearly ½ million American servicemen died in the cause and 50 million others died in the calamity worldwide. The end of World War II did not bring liberation to all; to the contrary, former democracies in Eastern Europe came under a totalitarianism that lasted almost 45 years, a brutal regime was established in China that cost tens of millions of lives, and a Cold War began that lasted until 1991—50 years after the start of our involvement in World War II. To be sure, we cannot predict what the final result of President Bush’s emancipation of those oppressed peoples will be, but we know that so far American liberation of Afghanistan has brought education for girls and women, establishment of fair and free elections, even a nearly 20% reduction in the opium poppy crop. In Iraq, the country is enjoying an economic resurgence, a stable democratic government, and a security force trained by the finest military in world history. These are accomplishments unrivaled by any other American President.
George W. Bush’s quiet, innovative war against AIDS and other diseases has saved millions of lives in Africa. According to the London Guardian, the President’s Pepfar program in Africa “has been hailed as a ‘revolution’ that is transforming healthcare in Africa and has been praised as the most significant aid programme since the end of colonialism.” The paper goes on: “‘This is the best thing that ever happened to the poor people I work with,’ said Edward Phillips, a Catholic priest overseeing the distribution of life-saving antiretroviral drugs in Nairobi, Kenya. ‘It's one of the few times I've seen US government money really reach down to the poorest of the poor. It's kept a hell of a lot of people alive.’”
America’s War on Terror has, by any historical measure, been the most successful war America has ever waged. President Bush’s response to the most devastating foreign attack on American soil was to vow that he would protect Americans from another terrorist attack. He kept that promise. To keep Americans safe from terror attack has been no easy task. President Bush secured the cooperation of nations worldwide where it counted: in law enforcement, diplomacy, finance and military defense to prosecute a war that, after seven years, has been a stunning success.
The world left by George W. Bush is also more peaceful than arguably at any time in recorded history. According to the statistics compiled by the Center for Systemic Peace, the number of people who have been killed worldwide as a result of political violence has dropped precipitously during the Bush administration. In the first six years of the Bush administration, deaths from political violence dropped by 78%, averaged annually, when compared to the Clinton administration. And when compared with Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter’s administration, worldwide deaths from political violence has had a breathtaking decline: from approximately 17 deaths per 100,000 in 1980 to less than 1 per 100,000 annually during the Bush administration. This is no coincidence. President Bush’s successful worldwide war on terror, his stirring advocacy of freedom for all, his consistent support for emerging democracies, his effective AIDS program for Africans, and his multilateral efforts to contain rogue governments have had a salutary effect on the level of worldwide violence.
Winning a war on terror, liberating millions suffering under odious regimes, saving millions of the “poorest of the poor” from disease and death, and leaving a markedly more peaceful world. Not bad for only eight years of work.
Finally, unlike other American wars, the War on Terror has not eroded our civil liberties. President Bush, in response to the attacks, instituted a number of measures, nearly all of which have been upheld by the courts and/or ratified by both Republican and Democratic-controlled Congresses. The terrorist surveillance act, perhaps the most “notorious” of the alleged violations of our rights, has been reauthorized, as amended, in 2008 with the support of President-elect Barack Obama, among others. There have been no mass arrests, no illegal rounding up of suspects, no purges. In contrast, the record of previous wartime American Presidents is disgraceful. President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and ignored the Supreme Court Chief Justice’s order to free a prisoner held without charge. President Woodrow Wilson authorized his attorney General Palmer to crack down on leftists, resulting in the largest mass arrests in American history—over 10,000 Americans. Franklin Roosevelt not only ordered the detention of hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese-Americans, including women and children, but he also ordered a secret loyalty program where government employees were purged if they were considered disloyal. President Harry Truman, in response to the Cold War threat, instituted his own loyalty program for government employees where their membership in certain organizations (the organizations’ names never disclosed to the employees) would result in termination from employment. The program provided for no appeal, and provided for protection for anonymous tipsters. Over 5,000 government employees left as a result of the loyalty program. President Johnson’s FBI and CIA infiltrated Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater’s campaign and illegally kept files on innocent Americans. When compared to other wartime Presidents, President Bush has protected our civil liberties to a remarkable degree.
President Bush has also had many domestic accomplishments. After the major economic crises in the first year of his Presidency, including the dot com market collapse, numerous corporate scandals such as Enron and Worldcom, and the attack on 9/11, the President’s administration aggressively prosecuted corporate wrongdoers while presiding over a world-wide economic boom led by the United States. His education policies have resulted in increased educational achievement by elementary students, especially disadvantaged students. After decades of unsuccessful attempts, Medicare prescription drug coverage for seniors was enacted, with a Bush administration program that has come in below budget with reduced projected costs and enhanced benefits to seniors. In another quiet, innovative program, the President has reduced homelessness in the United States dramatically. Called “housing first,” the administration’s program provides homes for the homeless. Period. An evaluation of the program revealed that homelessness was reduced nationwide between 2005 and 2007 by 30%. A Kennedy Center article called the program a “radical, liberal -- and successful -- national campaign against chronic homelessness.”
Finally, I suspect that the President’s daring moves in the last several months of his Presidency to limit the credit crises and get the economy working again will be seen as another example of his courage, audacity and unswerving commitment to the well-being of the American people.
On January 20, 2009, when the President relinquishes his post to the new President Barack Obama, George W. Bush can proudly state: Mission Accomplished.
But you'd never know this from the American media.
The media deprived us of knowing of all the many heros who have served this country over the last 8 years. I will never forgive them for that. They have also buried any good thing that this President has done for humanity. It’s not just bias any longer. It’s gross distortion. Goebbels like propaganda.
Nor is it in the Constitution.
Never heard a priest say a line like that before.
This article is nothing more then left-wing republican propaganda.
Bush expanded the size of the federal government.
Doubled the size of the Department of Education.
His prescription drug benefit was at that point the largest transfer of wealth in our nations history.
Recently nationalized the mortgage industry.
Recently nationalized the finance industry.
Is going against the will of the people and is nationalizing the auto industry.
His socialist redistrbution of wealth concenring AIDS in Africa is a complete feel good Mr Bush act.
Mr. Bush has sold our country out to his socialist masters in his last days in office paving the way for our marxist/communist ruler Obama.
George W. Bush is nothing any conservative should be proud of supporting.
He failed protecting us by not closing our borders. How many AQ have come into the country the last 6 years? How many Americans have to do with less because we are FORCED to support illegals from South and Central America.
Shame on Bush, left-wing RINO socialist.
This article is nothing more then left-wing republican propaganda.
Bush expanded the size of the federal government.
Doubled the size of the Department of Education.
His prescription drug benefit was at that point the largest transfer of wealth in our nations history.
Recently nationalized the mortgage industry.
Recently nationalized the finance industry.
Is going against the will of the people and is nationalizing the auto industry.
His socialist redistrbution of wealth concenring AIDS in Africa is a complete feel good Mr Bush act.
Mr. Bush has sold our country out to his socialist masters in his last days in office paving the way for our marxist/communist ruler Obama.
George W. Bush is nothing any conservative should be proud of supporting.
He failed protecting us by not closing our borders. How many AQ have come into the country the last 6 years? How many Americans have to do with less because we are FORCED to support illegals from South and Central America.
Shame on Bush, left-wing RINO socialist.
bookmark
THANK YOU for posting this excellent compendium of our President’s ACTUAL record!
Go piss up a stump
This is one FR post I will not bookmark.....
Pinging you to a must read “panegyric” to President George W Bush!
He guaranteed 4 years of total socialist rule by
1. His feckless performance in office.
2. He stood by and did and said nothing as his party selected the WORST possible candidate.
And you’d think the media would jump at the chance to report that Bush did something unconstitutional.
Other than mentioning B’sush ending the horrendous invasion of our privacy every night with the Do Not Call List, and defeating the Oil-For-Food scandal that had corrupted the majority of the U.N. Security Council, this guy had the story right.
Other than mentioning Bush ending the horrendous invasion of our privacy every night with the lovely Do Not Call List, and defeating the Oil-For-Food scandal that had corrupted the majority of the U.N. Security Council, this guy had the story right.
He refused to set the record straight and allowed the left/MSM to turn lies/memes into perceived facts.
His "high road" has led us to the precipice of total disaster.
exactly who would make you guys happy as President??? I really don’t think such a person exists!
From your comment you must suffer from BDS.
Unable to see Bush for the left-wing republican socialist he is. Or you are also of the same beliefs.
How much more taxpayers money will Bush steal to buy his legacy?
Let’s not forget the drug dealer caught with 30 pounds of pure cocaine he just pardoned while the two border agents rot in jail.
I am good with Palin, Steele or Jindal.
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