In Memoriam: President George H.W. Bush
I'd thought it was just a matter of time when his wife died last April, but former President George H.W. Bush has passed away at the age of 94. Very few have lived so long and even fewer have touched as many lives by their own lives of public service: a Navy pilot volunteer for WW2, shot down at 20 years old and saved by nothing short of a miracle, a successful businessman who funded Zapata Oil, a successful family man married for 73 years to the same woman, a Congresscritter, national party chairman, ambassador, head of the CIA, Vice-President, President, and philanthropist and fundraiser for worthy causes. And he's also the epitome of why both identity politics and ideological characterization (conservative vs liberal) are outdated concepts despite their continual use by the press, politicians, and activists who apply litmus tests to those they deem acceptable for election. For George H.W. Bush, despite the rejection of a large segment of his own party when he sought re-election, was more conservative than the so-called radical right-wing President Ronald Reagan, whose name is still invoked by every Republican seeking to win the party's nomination to the Presidency. Reagan talked tough, but the sole exceptions of the invasion of Grenada and attacking Muammar Gadafi's compound with air strikes, he conducted a largely symbolic military presence that often ended in disaster, the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and the Iran-Contra affair most notably. Bush, by contrast, had not only served in World War 2 (as had Reagan), but he had actually seen combat (Reagan had not). And it was Bush, not Reagan, who deployed troops to Panama and arrested Panamanian dictator and drug dealer Manuel Noriega in a matter of days. It was Bush, not Reagan, who send half a million troops to the Middle East and told Saddam Hussein to either leave Kuwait willingly or Bush would make him leave unwillingly - and then followed through. And it was Bush, not Reagan, who negotiated a flawed budget compromise with the Democratic Congress, abandoning his famous "read my lips, no new taxes" mantra in a desperate hope to reduce the federal budget deficit that ballooned under Reagan's supply side economic policy of the early 1980s. Bush was actually attempting to balance the budget. And finally, Bush was far more resistant to change (a la conservative) than Reagan was, in addition to being more skeptical of government in substance but less so in rhetoric. Bush's chief liability in perception seems to be that he didn't coin near as many turns of phrase as the former actor who preceded him.
He was by no means perfect. Let's face it, he spent six years lying about whatever his precise role was in the Iran-Contra affair, right up to the moment he ended the entire investigation by pardoning several of those involved including Reagan's Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. His two most important personnel decisions - his choice of Dan Quayle as Vice-President and Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice - suggested he did not take either appointment very seriously. (His choice of David Souter in 1990 likewise suggests he didn't really care who sat on the High Court; Souter was one of the most liberal justices of the last century). He was then rejected by voters in a repudiation that to this day I cannot understand, losing much of his 1988 support to a slick lawyer from Arkansas and a tyrannical businessman who was the center of his own universe. How this man who was regarded even by his political opponents to be one of the more decent persons in public life could have lost to such an obvious liar as Bill Clinton still boggles the mind. The tale at the time was that Bush, because of his privileged Eastern Establishment background, didn't understand the struggles of families reeling from the 1990 recession. Liberals were never going to support him anyway, conservatives got angry over his tax increases, and the sensible center that makes up about 35% of the electorate swung in favor of a change from "the last 12 years" as the saying went at the time. And the reality is that while he was a decent leader and man, Bush was one of the worst candidates who ran perhaps the two worst races for President of any candidate in the television age. He simply got lucky enough in 1988 that his opponent ran an even worse race.
My memories of President Bush are virtually all pleasant. He was the President of my final three years of college as well as my first year in the military, an idyllic and mostly happy time of life where I had not yet been confronted by too much tragedy. There was, however, one exception, and it was at this hour when Bush shone brightest. When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein annexed Kuwait via military invasion, Bush was there daily building up the military to expel the man and his troops, turning over the critical decision making to the generals involved, most notably Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and CENTCOM Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf. At the time of the war, the nation was suffering from an aversion to military power known as "the Vietnam Syndrome." Bush provided the antidote for this malaise with an Air Force that cleared the skies over Baghdad, and an army surge that won the ground war in less than 100 hours. Bush was on the news nightly assuring us how things were going. His policy had specific relevance to those of us who were college aged males that had registered with Selective Service. Would he reinstate the military draft? Would the war go on for years as happened in Vietnam? Fortunately, the answers were "no" and "no". And the reason why became clear years later. Bush, in an interview with David Frost commemorating the liberation of Kuwait, was probed about why he didn't "finish the job" and go take out Saddam Hussein. Bush then wept and said that not only did the intelligence they had inside Iraq suggest a strong enough rebellion that Hussein would be out of power in one year, but he also said something every President should remember: "who am I to ask any American parent to give their child's life for Saddam Hussein's?" Bush knew capturing Hussein would involve many more American casualties and would also result in America setting up a new government in Iraq. One may question whether it was wise to leave Saddam in power only to be removed a decade later by his son, but we can never fault Bush for erring on the side of human life and refusing to negotiate such a bad trade.
May he rest in peace.
He was by no means perfect. Let's face it, he spent six years lying about whatever his precise role was in the Iran-Contra affair, right up to the moment he ended the entire investigation by pardoning several of those involved including Reagan's Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. His two most important personnel decisions - his choice of Dan Quayle as Vice-President and Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice - suggested he did not take either appointment very seriously. (His choice of David Souter in 1990 likewise suggests he didn't really care who sat on the High Court; Souter was one of the most liberal justices of the last century). He was then rejected by voters in a repudiation that to this day I cannot understand, losing much of his 1988 support to a slick lawyer from Arkansas and a tyrannical businessman who was the center of his own universe. How this man who was regarded even by his political opponents to be one of the more decent persons in public life could have lost to such an obvious liar as Bill Clinton still boggles the mind. The tale at the time was that Bush, because of his privileged Eastern Establishment background, didn't understand the struggles of families reeling from the 1990 recession. Liberals were never going to support him anyway, conservatives got angry over his tax increases, and the sensible center that makes up about 35% of the electorate swung in favor of a change from "the last 12 years" as the saying went at the time. And the reality is that while he was a decent leader and man, Bush was one of the worst candidates who ran perhaps the two worst races for President of any candidate in the television age. He simply got lucky enough in 1988 that his opponent ran an even worse race.
My memories of President Bush are virtually all pleasant. He was the President of my final three years of college as well as my first year in the military, an idyllic and mostly happy time of life where I had not yet been confronted by too much tragedy. There was, however, one exception, and it was at this hour when Bush shone brightest. When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein annexed Kuwait via military invasion, Bush was there daily building up the military to expel the man and his troops, turning over the critical decision making to the generals involved, most notably Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and CENTCOM Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf. At the time of the war, the nation was suffering from an aversion to military power known as "the Vietnam Syndrome." Bush provided the antidote for this malaise with an Air Force that cleared the skies over Baghdad, and an army surge that won the ground war in less than 100 hours. Bush was on the news nightly assuring us how things were going. His policy had specific relevance to those of us who were college aged males that had registered with Selective Service. Would he reinstate the military draft? Would the war go on for years as happened in Vietnam? Fortunately, the answers were "no" and "no". And the reason why became clear years later. Bush, in an interview with David Frost commemorating the liberation of Kuwait, was probed about why he didn't "finish the job" and go take out Saddam Hussein. Bush then wept and said that not only did the intelligence they had inside Iraq suggest a strong enough rebellion that Hussein would be out of power in one year, but he also said something every President should remember: "who am I to ask any American parent to give their child's life for Saddam Hussein's?" Bush knew capturing Hussein would involve many more American casualties and would also result in America setting up a new government in Iraq. One may question whether it was wise to leave Saddam in power only to be removed a decade later by his son, but we can never fault Bush for erring on the side of human life and refusing to negotiate such a bad trade.
May he rest in peace.
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