“Given your screen name, you should appreciate moral clarity and seeking after God’s will.”
Read the Psalm. It is precise and specific. It does not ‘reach across the aisle’. Not gently, anyway.
Your ‘morally clear’ president called Islam a “religion of peace”. That gross fiction alone has weakened and undermined all efforts against them, and will continue to do so.
Bush II did not have moral clarity. He had moral certainty, and those are two very different things. Some of his certainties coincided with reality. Some did not.
Similarly you mistake willful for strong. Again, they are not the same thing.
There are two areas where I will give the man credit for being strong and being correct: the resolve to track down and eliminate the perpetrators of 9/11; and the defense of the unborn and infants. Those are not small things, but of themselves they are not enough. Behind each of those outrages - jihad terrorism and casual infanticide - is a corrupt and perverse cultural base, one Eastern and one Western. Repeatedly, he compromised with those cultures and consequently never had much effect in shaping or controlling them. Contrast that with Reagan, who never compromised with communists or communism, and as a result ultimately broke their backs.
Is George W. Bush a good man? Probably. If what he projects is a true reflection of the man then yes. Was he a great President? No. He was the best out of the past four administrations, but that is not a very robust competition.
I could go on, but given your screen name there is probably not much point. We are not going to agree on this, and whether we do or not makes not a bit of difference.
All the points you make are determined by your political pov, and your apparent lack of understanding that the role of the President of the United States after 9/11 was to protect America from further attack - thus the words about Islam which calmed the waters in a significant way.
I do not mistake willful for strong. Especially when the 'willfulness' comes from conviction. I also strongly disagree with your accusation that understanding that evil was trying to overcome good, that there are very bad people who want to do things to harm others because they are evil, is not moral clarity.
President Bush's moral clarity was the very essence of his policy in the War against jihadists as well as his unwavering protection of the unborn, and I, for one, am thankful that he had it.
I recommend your reading Decision Points. Even if you disagree with every decision he made, you will more fully understand why he did what he did, and how his desire to follow Christ motivated him.
I praise God for this brother in Christ who led this country. As a conservative I disagreed with some of his decisions. As a Christian, I respect that he did what he did as a fellow sinner saved by Grace and a follower of Jesus Christ.