Rehabilitation of George W Bush Presidency Has Begun

Not surprisingly, only those very close to Bush, such as his wife, and Secretary of State Condolezza Rice are getting much visibility declaring that his presidency was not a failure.

It’s a sign of how far he has to go that the question is not how powerful is his legacy, rather how much did he fail.

Condi (we are close personal friends, aren’t you make the indisputable case that how he will be judged will be in the fullness of time, rather than with emotional, perhaps even biased views today. The same has happened with other presidents, Nixon (who enjoyed some partial rehab), Bill Clinton (who remains popular despite a number of items including most recently perhaps helping to lose the 2008 election of his wife). Harry Truman comes to mind.

One of the most interesting rehabilitations happened with Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. He was not the featured speaker that day, and reportedly he was almost not invited to speak in the planning for the consecration of that famous Civil War Battlefield because planners feared his reputation as a speaker who droned on and on and was not very interesting.

Then when he finished his short address to a nearly silent crowd, he was dejected by that response. I wonder what would he, or his audience would think today, as that speech has been elevated to one of the memorable addresses in US history.

This is not to say that every Bushism will make it into Miriam Websters anytime soon, although it might not be wise to bet against one or two of them actually achieving that status some day, after all it ain’t impossible.

And that is the point. And my only point worth remembering despite the upcoming “change” I welcome.