World 12-12-18

A Sober Reckoning of George H. W. Bush’s Presidency
I
was
disappointed by the overwhelmingly positive bi-partisan
coverage of George H. W. Bush last week.
I know we are not supposed to speak ill of the dead.
And, since I didn’t know the guy personally, I will agree that
he was a nice guy and a loving family man. For all I know
he’s in heaven right now, chatting with the angels about why
the Astros couldn’t get the third out in some of those key
innings of the ALCS.
But he was a lousy president.
George H. W. Bush was a one-term president who got
37.7% of the popular vote when he ran for reelection. He left
office with the country mired in a recession.
Pat Buchanan was the undisputed intellectual champion of
the Republican Primary - successfully attacking President
Bush from the Left and paving the way for the Populist direction
the GOP would eventually move. In the general election,
more than a third of Republican voters jumped ship and voted
for Ross Perot.
Americans did not want four more years of President Bush.
“Read my lips, no new taxes.” Politicians lie. I am not
going to tear down President Bush because he lied and signed
a huge tax increase into law. I am going to tear down President
Bush because he was a Republican who raised taxes!
Many of you don’t care for Republicans. I have some serious
issues with the Grand Old Party myself. However, we
really do need one party to show restraint and keep the government
from taking all of our money. A Republican President
who raises taxes is like a homeless shelter with no beds that
is just as cold as outside; it’s a deeply troubling surprise.
Politicians talk a good game about making the rich “pay
their fair share.” But they don’t want fairness; they want as
much money as they can get from whomever they can steal it.
$5 per pack cigarette taxes and State Lotteries are aimed
squarely at poorer Americans, trying to move as much spare
cash from poor pockets into the hands of rich politicians.
A Republican politician who agrees to raise taxes isn’t
being responsible, he is being rapacious.
President Bush had a splendid opportunity to usher in a
new era of peace after the Cold War. With his imperialist
domination plan called New World Order, he eagerly accomplished
the exact opposite.
Instead of extending a sincere offer of friendship to Russia,
Bush cynically supported drunken buffoon Boris Yeltsen.
Instead of doing the right thing and disbanding NATO,
President Bush began to extend the belligerent alliance right
up to Russia’s doorstep. We have perpetual hostility with
Russia and no one deserves more blame than President Bush.
The Bush Administration quietly promised their old buddy
Saddam Hussein that the US military wouldn’t interfere in
any little Arab wars. When Hussein took the bait and conquered
Kuwait in 1990, President Bush reneged on his promise
Ḋesert Shield is remembered as a splendid little war, wiping
away the humiliation of Vietnam. On the battlefield, it
was a success. But the blowback was terrible.
The always amoral Saudi monarchy was perfectly happy to
let the US military use the Muslim holy land as a staging
ground for Desert Shield. Devout Muslims weren’t so keen on
the idea.
Have you ever wondered when and why Islamic terrorists
like Osama Bin Laden began calling Americans “Crusaders”?
This is when and this is why. I am not saying that Desert
Shield was a grand evil scheme to lead us into perpetual hostility
with the Muslim world. But I do know that no one
deserves more blame than President Bush.
I am not trying to spread hate here. I honestly hope that Mr.
Bush is in heaven right now having a lovely conversation
with Saint Michael about Justin Verlander’s slider. But he
was clearly a bad President. We agreed on that in 1992,
remember?
He Will Be Missed
By William D. Moore,
President & CEO
Time stood still for
many last week as
we considered the
life and times of a truly
remarkable man,
President George H. W.
Bush. Many watched or
listened to the ceremonies
as the nation paid
tribute to an American hero, the former
leader of the free world.
The ceremonies of bidding farewell to an
American President have only happened 40
times since the birth of the Republic. Twelve
years ago, we honored President Gerald
Ford.
The full display of government turned out
to honor President Bush. His body lay in
state in the Rotunda of the Capitol. He was
only the 32nd person to receive such a distinction
in the last 166 years. The last person
to lie in state at the Capitol was Senator John
McCain who died in August. Eleven presidents
dating to Abraham Lincoln and two
vice presidents have lain in state there. Six
other members of Congress, three military
leaders, and the unknown soldiers from
World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the
Vietnam War are the only others.
I had the honor of meeting President Bush
twice. He truly was an extraordinary man. I
honestly believe that he was the most qualified
person elected president since George
Washington.
By now, everyone is familiar with his
story. He postponed going to college while
enlisting in the Navy at the outbreak of
America’s involvement in World War II. He
was the youngest Navy pilot at 18 years old
to earn his wings. He was shot down in the
Pacific Theater and received the Distinguished
Flying Cross for bravery. In total, he flew 58
combat missions and, besides the DFC,
received three Air Medals and the Presidential
Unit Citation awarded to the USS San
Jacinto.
After the war, he married his beloved
Barbara Pierce. Together, they had six children:
George; Robin (who died as a child);
Jeb (John); Neil; Marvin and Dorothy. He
captained the Yale baseball team where he
was Phi Beta Kappa. He and his family left
New Haven and headed to west Texas where
he founded a successful oil company.
He was elected to the House of
Representatives before losing in two attempts
at the U.S. Senate. He served as Ambassador
to the United Nations, Chairman of the
Republican National Committee, Chief of the
U. S. Liaison Office in the People’s Republic
of China, and Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency. Although he was unsuccessful
in his 1980 presidential bid, Ronald
Regan selected him as his vice president
where he served with distinction for eight
years.
As President of the United States, George
Bush was in the center of history. His White
House biography points out that, “Bush faced
a dramatically changing world, as the Cold
War ended after 40 bitter years, the
Communist empire broke up, and the Berlin
Wall fell. The Soviet Union ceased to exist;
and reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev,
whom Bush had supported, resigned. While
Bush hailed the march of democracy, he
insisted on restraint in U. S. policy toward
the group of new nations.” President
Gorbachev wrote last week in Time magazine,
“Our main accomplishment was our
agreement to destroy thousands of nuclear
weapons, both strategic and tactical. Together,
we helped to end conflicts in various parts of
the world. We laid the groundwork for a partnership
between our countries.”
The coalition that President Bush assembled
to push Iraq out of Kuwait was unprecedented.
Thirty-four nations – including
many from the Middle East – joined together
to free Kuwait.
On the domestic front, among other things,
he signed the American with Disabilities Act,
the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and
he oversaw the bailout of the failing savings
and loan banks. His efforts led to the enactment
of the No Child Left Behind Act. He
agreed to increase taxes after famously
declaring that when Congress would try to
raise taxes, they should read his lips, “No
new taxes!” The move likely cost him his
second term.
In retirement, when not jumping out of
planes or running his boat at high speeds off
the coast of Maine, he mostly stayed out of
the limelight. He did enter into a partnership
cum friendship with the man who defeated
him, President Bill Clinton, as they worked
together to raise hundreds of millions of dollars
for disaster relief efforts.
President Bush had a unique perspective,
putting the good of the nation ahead of his
own personal objectives. He was a decent
man with respect for all he came in contact
with, a deep almost reverence for the office
of the presidency, an unparalleled love of
country and an unbridled optimism that
working together, America could and would
achieve great things. He will be missed.
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December 12, 2018 The WORLD page 5