Posted on 05/15/2018 3:06:53 PM PDT by Signalman
In February 2010, just about a full year after Barack Obama took office, a series of billboards mysteriously popped up along Interstate 35 in a town called Wyoming, Minn.
They showed a photo of a waving President George W. Bush, flashing a cheeky grin, above copy that said, "Miss me yet?"
The meme quickly caught on and soon plastered car rear bumpers, T-shirts and posters.
But despite the viral spread of "Miss me yet?" merchandise, it turned out that the answer was decidedly: No. America, by and large, did not miss President Bush yet.
He left office with a 33 percent favorability rate, according to Gallup. By the time the billboards were up in 2010, it had only recovered to the mid-40s.
But in the years since, Bush has nearly doubled his popularity. A CNN poll from January 2018 has his approval at 61 percent. In just the two years since Trump became the Republican nominee for President, that number has climbed six points.
A new report by Roxanne Roberts in the Washington Post explores some of the reasons for the newfound admiration, including the simple benefit of time, a reconciling of the complexities of the Iraq War, and the fact that Bush has remained fairly quiet in the years since leaving the White House.
"Time has done the reputation of President Bush a lot of good," says Fred Kempe, president of the Atlantic Council, which recently awarded Bush the Distinguished International Leadership Award. "[T]he longer time goes on and his presidency is reassessed, the better he looks."
Of course, it could be argued that the "Miss me yet?" meme could be revived in the wake of Trump, as more and more Democrats are discovering their untapped affection for their former enemy. According to a January 2018 CNN report, "most of Bush's climb back to popularity came from Democrats and Independents." Among Democrats, his favorability in February of 2009 was a mere 11 percent. It is now at 54 percent.
I know I'll be called establishment for this, but after almost a year and a half of Trump's antics -- his tweets, his bullying, his lies, his lack of intellectual curiosity, his brittle inability to withstand scrutiny, his angry, uninformed blurting, his hostility toward valued Democratic institutions -- it's hard not to miss Bush.
You can hold Bush accountable for his policy decisions -- and criticize his decision to invade Iraq -- while acknowledging that Americans didn't know just how good they had it at the time when many decided Bush was evil incarnate.
And now, the differences stand in stark relief.
There are the little things. Bush could laugh at himself. His self-deprecating sense of humor was famously disarming. He wasn't too proud to take a joke, nor was he punitive about jokes at his expense.
And while he could be pointed, he was never mean. A universe away from berating a war hero or mocking a disabled journalist, the meanest Bush ever got was in his penchant for awarding nicknames to everyone in his orbit, from "Hurricane Karen" for adviser Karen Hughes, to "Pootie Poot" for Vladimir Putin.
As Sen. Roy Blunt says of his friend, then as much as now, he is "a person who doesn't have to be critical of everybody else, a person who understands how big these problems are, a person who just has a sense of the right way to conduct yourself as a former president."
While W. could range from inartful to inarticulate at times -- his gaffes are infamous -- Trump makes a daily virtue of his own ignorance and insists anyone who points out his willful ignorance is "establishment." When it's clear Trump is wrong, rather than admit or correct it, he simply calls the correction fake news. That habit has trickled down to his communications shop and surrogates, and it's an embarrassing display.
Perhaps more importantly, Bush was "America Best," not "America First." He was hugely patriotic and optimistic about America's role in the world, but not in service of denigrating other cultures or parts of the world. His tremendous commitment to the international AIDS crisis was, for him, an opportunity to help developing nations while elevating America's leadership.
Upon receiving an award last week, he said "I'd really like to dedicate it to the generosity of the American people and ask you to spread the word about what this great compassionate nation has done."
I was long a Bush supporter, but 2007 me could hardly imagine a world in which he would be honored by a bipartisan think tank and receive three standing ovations.
But in 2018, with Trump as a backdrop, it's no wonder we are increasingly open to reimagining Bush's historic "awfulness," and remembering how he wasn't so bad, after all.
What the hell is this garbage?
The Bush’s suck...
NOBODY who is paying attention really misses Bush. His (let’s get some more Americans killed and terribly wounded) rules of engagement in his wars, his endeavors at MASSIVE AMNESTY and his open-borders globalism are UNFORGIVABLE.
I’ll never miss him or the Bush crowd.
I am very happy with Trump as POTUS. After 28 years, he is the contrast to all the corruption after Reagan. GHBush = 4 Clinton = 8 GWB = 8 Obama=8
28 years of globalization and Romanization type senate evil corruption on the backs of the Americans.
When was the last time a POTUS took no salary? NEVER
Thats because a capitalist businessman got sick and tired of the crap happening that stiffled his business as well as the country that made him the man he became!
I dont miss any Bush and regret voting for him and his father and will never vote for another Bush ever
Jeez! I bet this moron still had a hardon for Slick Willie too.
And why not? The Clintons and the Bushes are all the same.
Me. Cupp, are you tired of America winning too much? Get used to it.
Just goes to show you Bushbots still inhabit Free Republic.
NeverTrumpers too.
Figures, leftists have always hated Israel’s existence..that is why they love Muslims so much, they both share the same hatred for Israel
Of course she likes GWB
Funny how all the wealthy upper social class type people really like them some Uniparty moderates.
Hey Jorge Delano Arbusto: See you at the signing(his reference to Amnesty) Asswipe!
Another of his best sellers:
“Islam is a religion of Peace”.. my ass
"I looked into his eyes and saw his heart"
Bush's head must have been so far up his own ass, he needed to clear his throat just to pass wind.
...But in 2018, with Trump as a backdrop, it’s no wonder we are increasingly open to reimagining Bush’s historic “awfulness,” and remembering how he wasn’t so bad, after all...
Yeah, ok, sure.
Bush 2 was a big disappointment. He used his political clout to get us into war with Iraq that took a huge toll in terms of human capital as well the financial cost. If this had rid the world of state-sponsored terrorism, it would have been worth it, but it accomplished only a little in that regard. What is unforgivable was to leave Christians in the Mideast vulnerable to genocide, which Obama and Hillary were happy to help carry out even further after Bush left office.
The Bushes are the kind of moderates that I could live with representing the Democrat party. But radical leftists have taken over the Democrat party and pushed the more moderate leftists into the Republican party. And that’s not even counting the phony Republicans that are merely Democrat moles.
I don’t miss that amnesty loving so and so for even a minute.
Funny what some people remember.
I don’t remember “miss me yet” at all. Never heard of it. I googled and up came many links to Aaron Goodsomething who apparently wrote/sang a song by that title that reached millions .... and was non-political.
I remember that a little bit before Nov 2014, but massively after the Nov 2014 election and focus moved to 2016 the #1 chant was
No more Bush! No more Clinton!
Neither Jeb nor Hillary did a thing to recognize that massive obstacle to overcome. Just think, if a competent campaign manager like Axelrod had run Clinton’s campaign rather than idiots Mook-Podesta, 2016 would have been a totally different campaign.
More proof that too many people have a right to vote.
Bush never stood up for conservatives, called filthy Muslims a religion of peace, and got thousands of Americans killed. Worst Republican ever...(next to McCain)
Ha ha ha ha ha oh stop you’re killing me. George W. who? The scumbag gutless bastard that was either too stupid to know Bubba was stealing the money from the Haiti fund while he was sitting right next to him, or was in on it himself.
The Bush’s are sooooi popular after W’s terms notice George P. Is everywhere in the press /s
Even he knows to keep out of the public’s view, ENOUGH of the N.E. Liberal crowd
Had Gore or Kerry won, we MIGHT have seen Trump or someone like him step in to start repairing the damage that much sooner. Not defending them at all, just remarking that Gore and Kerry would have accomplished much quicker what GWB was already doing at a slow boil.
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