Now he's gone, let's admit Bush did some good

By David Quinn Friday January 23 2009 independent.ie
Poor old George W Bush. Yes, I mean that. We have castigated him as stupid, wicked and incompetent, but he was also unlucky. In fact, one might even be tempted to suggest that his presidency was cursed right from the outset.

Three events in particular blighted his presidency and were outside his control. The first was the circumstance of his election in 2000. It was so incredibly close that whether he or Al Gore finally won the Battle of Florida over those dimpled, pregnant and hanging chads, there was going to be a huge question mark over their legitimacy because both sides accused the other of foul play in the recount.

But Bush won it and, therefore, he began his presidency under a massive cloud which never left him. If Florida hadn't happened, Bush would have begun his term of office with the normal amount of goodwill a new president is accorded by non-partisans. He never received that. Instead, from day one, the left vented its hatred on him, including at his first inauguration. This was the start of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

The second event was September 11, which was gestated during the Clinton era. We can criticize Bush till the cows come home about water-boarding and Guantanamo Bay and the invasion of Iraq. Some of these criticisms are justified and the most justified is the criticism of how the occupation of Iraq was conducted. But 9/11 itself wasn't his fault. If it hadn't happened, would he be quite so reviled today?

The third event was Hurricane Katrina. Again, we can criticize him about his handling of the disaster, but the hurricane was an act of God. The chances that it would hit New Orleans and burst the levees were vanishingly remote, but it happened. It was to the start of his second term what Florida was to the start of his first term.

How many presidents can you think of who were hit first by a bitterly contested election result, then by the first attack on American soil since 1941, and, finally, by a natural disaster that wiped out half a city?

If these events hadn't happened, there is a fair chance Bush would have shuffled off the stage of history remembered as a mediocre president, mildly disparaged by many, hated only by the left, but with his own support base more or less intact. There is even a possibility, God forbid, that the stage would not have been set for the election of Barack Obama as the Anti-Bush.

Did Bush do any good at all? Well, yes, actually, he did.

The most uncontroversial action was the huge increase in aid to Africa that occurred under his watch. Even Bono and Bob Geldof acknowledged this. Billions have been poured into treatment programmes for HIV/Aids and millions of lives have been saved.

He was excellent on abortion, whereas Obama is a disaster. Obama is opposed to any restrictions on abortion, including the requirement to notify parents if their teenage daughter is considering an abortion.

He made two excellent appointments to the Supreme Court. He opposed federal funding of embryo stem-cell research, although he allowed research funding on existing embryo stem-cell lines and on adult stem cells. He was accused of being anti-science but the science has since moved his way. Adult stem-cell research has shown itself to be far more promising than embryo stem-cell research.

His war on terror did yield some dividends. First and foremost, there have been no further attacks on America. That is no mean feat. Libya gave up its nuclear programme. Pakistan gave up the scientist who was selling nuclear secrets to countries like North Korea. Afghanistan is no longer a safe haven for al-Qa'ida. Saddam Hussein is no more, although the debate continues as to whether the war in Iraq was worth this.

The surge worked, and he was one of the very few who supported it. Barack Obama opposed it. John McCain, to his credit, also supported it.

People who worked closely with Bush spoke of his essential decency. Some of his former colleagues questioned his competence and intellect, although often for self-serving reasons. But few questioned his decency. We all know the black marks against him. They have been repeated ad nauseam these eight long years. But he wasn't all bad. He did some good. And if you're not suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome yourself, you might even agree.