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Bush's Rose-Colored Glasses
Tony Gutierrez / AP Photo
In his first major domestic speech since leaving office, George W. Bush sounded many of the themes he campaigned on in 2000. Richard Wolffe on the things he didn't say.
The man standing on stage in a Dallas auditorium Thursday was a lot grayer than the one who left the governor’s mansion in Austin under somewhat controversial circumstances nine years earlier. But so much of the mood music surrounding George W. Bush’s first major domestic speech since leaving the presidency felt familiar.
Before he strode on stage with his unchanged wife, you could have gazed at a big screen showing photos of presidential hugs alongside such slogans as Compassion and Responsibility. This was the warmup for the original Compassionate Conservative—the one who campaigned as a different kind of Republican. The man who promised to restore the Responsibility Era, to put his hand on the Bible and swear not only to uphold the laws of the land, but the honor and integrity of the office to which he would be (kind of) elected. So help him God.
Bush stayed the same. But the country was forever changed.
If you closed your eyes, you might think it was 1999 all over again. You might think that 9/11 had never happened. Nor the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, either. Not Hurricane Katrina, record surpluses turned into record deficits—and certainly not the rise of an unlikely politician named Barack Obama. Bush didn’t mention any of them. Why should he? A man gets to decide his own legacy, doesn’t he?
There was his old buddy from Midland, Don Evans, introducing the Bushes: the man who helped to make the match between Laura and George, who chaired his campaign for governor and president, and is now raising money once more for the new Bush presidential center at Southern Methodist University.
• Lloyd Grove: The Man Charged with Bush's Makeover And then there was the man himself, still uncomfortably goofy while standing at the podium. After all those thousands of presidential speeches, he still started off blinking like a rabbit at the cameras. Then he shook off his nerves with a little swagger and some well-worn jokes which, come to think of it, were already a bit threadbare back in 2000.
He joked about the media, which his daughter has now joined. And he joked about skipping class as a student, which sounded like the soft bigotry of his own low expectations. He even indulged in jokes about Mother. After all, what could be funnier than a 63-year-old former president who is too afraid to praise his wife in case it annoys his parents?
This was the unveiling of what Bush once told author Robert Draper would become his “fantastic freedom institute.” But it turned out to be less about freedom for the world than the freedom to rewrite his own presidential history.
The myth about presidents is that they never change, according to their own aides and friends. They are rocks of men, sitting resolutely mid-stream in the raging waters of history. No matter what happens to them, no matter what happens because of them, they leave office intact.
For President Bush, this is a tricky myth to sustain. It requires a huge degree of self-belief, a considerable lack of self-awareness, and a touch of delusion. Or a nine-year-long Rip Van Winkle sleep.
So he explained how the Bush institute will promote five main areas: education, global health, human freedom, economic growth, and a women’s initiative.
Education, according to the former president, was his top domestic priority as president, and a “nonpartisan” one at that. The landmark of that policy was passed by the summer of 2001, leaving seven years without a top domestic priority. Mentioning No Child Left Behind also served as a reminder of how 2001 was a paradise of bipartisanship; an era when self-confessed liberals like Ted Kennedy found ways to work with a new Republican president. Sadly President Bush left behind a Washington with zero House Republicans who could vote for a Democratic president’s stimulus bill. For a guy who styled himself as a uniter, not a divider, the nonpartisan legacy looks a little thin.
On global health, Bush’s record is far more impressive. His increased spending on global HIV/AIDS has been lauded by everyone from Bono to Barack Obama. Yet that record would have come as a surprise to anyone who fell asleep after his 2000 campaign, since the compassion he mentioned most often related to the power of faith to rehabilitate offenders.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Obama's Bad Trip
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
Getting Obama Back in the Game
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
Obama's Campaign Mastermind
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
"fantastic freedom institute"
George Bush has the mind of a 7year-old in his underoos with a towel tied around his neck about to jump off the garage roof.
And we elected him president, twice.
What do mean "we" whiteman?
I never voted for this inbred , or his lying father ! Yes, GeorgeSr. & Barb are cousins ! What a train wreck the stupids left the USA with .
Technically, he only got elected once. The other time, the Supreme Court stepped in.
Do a search and replace of Bush's name and replace with Obama, four years from now, and the same column will show up under some other hack's name. I actually would feel sorry for both these guys if they didn't have the mega-egos that drove them to run for president in the first place.
Regardless of any errors that he may have made (all of which exclusively fall under the "blunt instruments of government spending and control"), he was a president that acted with conviction and did what he thought was right - crucially without giving undue heed to playing politics.
Make any number of fresh and original jokes about his intelligence that you like, but with the current problems the world is facing it would be great if there was a president in power who acted with as little cynical self interest as Bush did, for better or worse.
I was disappointed with President Bush in the end. But I have given it much thought since the last election. We could have had Al Gore. After him I don't believe we would have become stuck with what we have now. But then there may have not been anything to stick us with. I guess the thing now is that we have become a nation without leaders. So too many people just jump on somebody else's bandwagon and ride it until the wheels fall off. This is not meant to e political. But I'm afraid that more than the wheels are coming off this time. Anyone who has hands on experience in large management knows that we are headed for THE disaster this time.
It is if you have aspergers, or are on some restricted compound, as this individual appears to be.
I have experience in "large management," and I know that we narrowly averted "THE disaster" when Barack Obama got elected. How can anyone with normal comprehension ability look at the 8 years of the Bush presidency and not see what a total FUBAR it was?
I don't think being senior sales associate at Best Buy qualifies as "large management" experience.
Up yours.
I, SOOOOO AGREE,BUSH IS BETTER THAN BARACK.
NO FORT HOOD ON HIS WATCH,& OTHER HUGE ISSUES...CAP & TRADE FIASCO,HEALTH CARE REFORM DISASTER, TRANSPARENT CROOKS
IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION,STARTING WITH TIMOTHY GEITNER!
WHAT A MESS FOR US & OUR CHILDREN. I'LL TAKE A BUSH PUPPET OVER A OBAMA [CHICAGO MOB BOSS]PUPPET ANYTIME!@#
I think you have your panties prematurely in a twist. Firstly, equating Fort Hood with 9-11? "Bin Laden determined to attack in US?" was overlooked, purposefully ignored, by the Bush administration, resulting in the loss of nearly three thousand lives on a single day. Pit that against Fort Hood where a single guy, who happened to be Muslim, killed a dozen in a random act of violence. It was awful, but it sure seems as though this was more the result of a psychological break in a single person than an organized, multi-person terror attack that had been planned on three continents over the course of a year or more. And most important, one that the National Security staff had prepared an NIE about.
But lets look at some of the other issues that seem to have you in overdrive on the CAPS LOCK about: Health Reform -- in case you haven't been paying attention, it hasn't passed yet, and which, if passed would simply be helping to offset the costs for uncompensated care, which everyone who is currently insured is carrying the burden for now. Transparent crooks? Huh? Did Obama falsify intelligence to start a war in Iraq? Did he put the arabian horse association president in as the head of disaster relief? Does he go around putting the fox in charge of the henhouse like bush did with mining oversight, oil and gas drilling in national parks and BLM lands? If Timothy Geitner is the best you've got, then we are a lot better off. Let's think of some Bush names: Dick "Halliburton and the single source contracts" Cheney, Alberto "indicted in Spain for Torture" Gonzalez, Scooter "outted a covert CIA operative"" Libby, Tommy "falsify medicare prescription drug plan information in a public ad campaign" Thompson, not to mention Abu Gharib, Blackwater, the list goes on with the Bushies.
As a reminder, Barack Obama won the presidency with 7 MILLION more votes than George Bush did in 2004 and 17 MILLION more votes than he did in 2000. You may not like it, but a lot more people happily pulled the lever for Obama than held their nose and pulled the lever for your guy.
Yeah no Fort Hood on Bush's watch. Just 9/11
dumbshit....
Patriot chick, go put on some lipstick and spare yourself the embarrassment of having to eat all your words for being so far off, that the space shuttle itself couldn't go fetch your retentive Dem ass!!!!
No Fort Hood, true, but 9/11 was a lot bigger than Fort Hood - a lot more people died and a lot more property was destroyed.
And don't forget, Caps Lock is not cruise control for cool.
At times I wish President Obama wouldn't pussy foot around as much and would start ramming through legislation like President Bush used to, but there's a reason we elected him.
I quit reading the article shortly into it. The author clearly hates the Bush and we can be sure its is yet another totally biased hatchet job. Obama is a brilliant speaker but a socialist who reads a great speach off his teleprompter. I'd take a sincere Bush any day.
You're right. I won't even bother to read any more of Wolffe's articles. All fluff
and no substance.
"Obama is a brilliant speaker but a socialist who reads a great speach off his teleprompter. I'd take a sincere Bush any day."
Seriously, do you have any idea how dumb that sounds? A brilliant speaker BUT a socialist who reads a great speach? I am not referring to the misspelling of the word speech.
Obama is not a socialist. At all. If he were, he would have nationalized the banks at the height of the crisis. His politics may be liberal, but his temperament is actually quite conservative. His economic policies reflect a strong belief in free markets--cash for clunkers, first-time home buyers aid--yet more Keynes than Friedman. With socialism it has NOTHING to do. Do you, actually, know what socialism is?
Before some of you jump all over me I'm checking this out. Right now it's rumor but there are sites that confirm it. When I get those I'll post them. Now the message says that this Major Hasan was an advisor to Obama and recommended two confirmed muslims to Homeland Security. They are on the payroll already. Janet Naplolatano(spelling)?? confirmed that they were there but would not confirm the rest of it. I'l be back.
Obama is not as bad as we think(crossing all my fingers and closing my eyes) and Bush is definitely not as bad as the obsessed liberals tried to make us believe he was!!!! The liberals were relentless in their vicious attack of Bush, so now they will know what it feels like to have their president ridiculed and hated with passion also. I know we don´t have the capacity for hate you liberals posses, but we are absolutely going to give it our best shot!!! You reap what you sow people, when will you learn?
HA HA HA HA HA. President Obama isn't going around getting the United States stuck in wars where we have no business being; he didn't take a gigantic bill that severely diminishes American Constitutional freedoms and ram it through after a national tragedy by arguing that not doing so was unpatriotic. He didn't advocate breaking international law and torturing prisoners.
Do I think President Bush was pure evil? Of course not. Do I think he was well intentioned? Probably. Do I think he did a terrible job as a president? Absolutely, for the vast majority of his tenure. At least we "hated" him for his policies and not for what he represented.
Do you even know what the word "socialist" means? Do you have any idea what socialism is?
And the man wrote all of his great speeches himself. The teleprompter comments just show that you're grasping at straws.
Actually, gak, if you tell these people that Socialism involves the State ownership of all factors of production, as a way to begin an explanation, they'll say, "What's a factor of production?"
They just know that it's a pejorative of some kind and it's a handy label. Such is the brain power that votes for the Right.
Nice hit job.
What an idiot!
Why did Republicans put this guy in the White House?
He said that the Government needs to get out of the way of the private sector after giving the Banks 700 Billion Dollars. Oh wait, He authorized some of that money to bail out GM before Obama took office.
Take your "Compassionate Conservatism" and stick it where the son don't shine!
omg Bush on the tube yesterday was too much for me---quick channel change and I was back to good.
Bush & his fans are praising his "sincerity" when Wolffe (& others) make it clear that his policies NEVER bore any resemblance to the alleged "values" he carries on a card in his wallet? I'd bang my head against the wall, but my hospitalization won't cover the aspirin. His legacy is war, economic devastation, horrific debt, increased pollution and a nation more divided than ever. Actions speak louder than words even if you are Dubya. We know him by his fruits.
Write and call Eric Holders office and demand the criminals GW Bush and Richard B Cheney be arrested tried and executed for their war crimes and crimes against humanity !! It's the Patriotic American thing to do !!
You have got to CHILL citizenX!!! Did we try to arrest your parents for bringing your dumb ass into this world? No, so go have a coke and a smile and, by all means, HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!!
I recently watched the good HBO documentary on the Obama election. The War Room doc is still the gold standard. This author was prominent. He was visible most times, except when his nose was obscured by the future president's derrier. I like Obama. I was a contributor to his campaign, the first donations I've ever made to a politician. And, I've been voting since the 1970's. I never voted for Bush. However, I don't hate him. What I do despise are "reporters" who are syncophants, even when they laud politicians I like. The word "scary" is thrown about cavalierly. It is appropriate in describing this author.
"(kind of) elected"
I guess Mr. Wolffe is in the camp that no matter how many investigations and consortiums were conducted into the 2000 Presidential election in Florida, Bush was not really elected. I'll get the tin-foil hat. One media consortium included The Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Tribune Company, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The St. Petersburg Times, The Palm Beach Post and CNN. The group hired the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago in January to examine the ballots. The comprehensive review of the uncounted Florida ballots from last year's presidential election reveals that George W. Bush would have won even if the United States Supreme Court had allowed the statewide manual recount of the votes that the Florida Supreme Court had ordered to go forward.
Contrary to what many partisans of former Vice President Al Gore have charged, the United States Supreme Court did not award an election to Mr. Bush that otherwise would have been won by Mr. Gore. A close examination of the ballots found that Mr. Bush would have retained a slender margin over Mr. Gore if the Florida court's order to recount more than 43,000 ballots had not been reversed by the United States Supreme Court.
Please refer to the NY Times article linked below for further information:
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA071FFA385C0C718DDDA809 94D9404482&scp=2&sq=2000%20florida%20%20presidential%20election%20consortiu m&st=cse
Bushboy was unfit for the office and that wasn't hard to know well before the fool usurped the presidency. In fact, he wasn't fit to be governor of Texas, even though that office doesn't require much, except making sure the people executed by the state have had a fair appeal process. And he didn't even do that.
Bushboy was a failure at every business he undertook and never could have opened a business if he didn't do it with Arab Oil money, which they gave him to influence Bushdaddy.
Bushboy is also a sociopath. His depraved "shock and awe" slaughter in Baghdad was based on premises that weren't verified.
He should be sitting in an international jail somewhere as a convicted war criminal, but in America, Republican criminals and incompetents are not only tolerated, but protected.
Here we go again, that radical liberal submarine of yours should just stay down in the abyss for ever. For your information periscope, most small businesses and upstarts fail in the first year of opening. You make it sound like you don´t actually need a miracle for a new business to succeed. If he got help from his dad and friends, wonderful, what are you envious because yours couldn't help you? Do I like it that he went into Iraq, no, but I also know the world is a better place because Saddam Hussein is gone. I really don´t understand or condone you nobodies ridiculing Texans, since they are very enterprising, hardworking, kind and family oriented people that love their country, so show allot more respect next time you refer to them, little periscopeman. As for criminals and incompetents having to be in jail, now that would truly be bipartisan institution, filled equally with members of both rotten parties. We simply have better lawyers, that´s why the prison population tilts more in your party´s direction!!!
You cannot re-write history. Bush and Cheney ignored the State Dept. warnings about Bin Laden in favor of chasing Saddam. 9/11. The ill conceived and poorly executed "liberation" of Iraq and its subsequent damage to the American reputation, not to mention the economy will be the legacy of the Bush administration. The rest of the world learned to view the American government as an incompetent war mongerer rather than a leader of sound fiscal and diplomatic policies. No Fort Hood on Bush's watch? Fort Hood is a direct result of his Iraq policy and nothing else.
The Bushboy legacy: Two wars (the more devastating and costly one in Iraq was totally unnecessary and unwarranted), doubling of the national debt to $10 trillion and record annual deficits topping $1 trillion, a collapsed economy due to policies of negligent laissez faire, including deregulation and non enforcement of anti-trust or labor laws.
In addition, the depraved moron violated the U.S. Constitution's protections of civil rights of U.S. citizens, and violated the Geneva Treaty (which the U.S. has signed) of foreign citizens.
Estimated deaths in Iraq due to Bushboy's war are over 1 million people with an Iraqi diaspora of over 2 million, who had to flee due to sectarian violence.
In a just world, Bushboy wouldn't be allowed to show his face in public ever again, and would remain under arrest.
Hogwash all of it!!!! Keep sucking that ridiculously false information out of your thumb!! Why do you waste our time like this?
Why is it hogwash osea65? Specifically what did periscope state that was not true? FACTS PLEASE.
Why do you waste our time like this?
What is true is that Obama's spending is what is causing Trillion Dollar Deficits!
You can't complain about Bush's spending without castigating Pelosi and Obama's spending. In a just world, that would be called hypocrisy!
But Democrats are incapable of admitting hypocrisy.
Not to mention, that everything else that periscope said is just Left wing Propagandized reinterpreted Bull Shit!
I would like to see some Iraqi's interviewed and find one that doesn't think they are better off without Saddam Hussein!
Before he was removed, he and his sons were ruling Iraq as if it was Rome under Caligula. So, I would be curious to see some of those interviews when you get a chance.
BTW, you can thank your buddies, Iran for the Sectarian violence and pretty much all of the unrest in the Middle East right now.
We didn't violate Geneva Conventions. The terrorists weren't wearing the uniform of a foreign nation. Which signer of the Geneva Convention under these acts of terrorism do we owe are respect!
Don't think you have an answer for that either.
Just more "Touchy Feely" Liberal crap that we have to put up with in a free Society!
Amanda, after reading a few posts that belong to osea, I have come to the conclusion that presenting facts to back up his "statements" is beyond his ability.
Bush Peed all over the place yet Republicans act like Obama is the one pulling up his zipper. - Wanda Sykes.
I wish Obama came into office with a surplus and 20 million jobs created in 8 years instead of two wars, 6 million jobs loss, Global Depression, America trying to make torture legal, and a VP who won't shut up making statements where he is in agreement with Saddam Hussein that torture works.
To bad we still smell the Bush years and we can't just flush the stinky smell down the toilet.
It's amazing how Republicans cheered and supported his every move yet completely ignore his policies put us int eh position we are in today.
It's like the last 8 years never happened.
..if you want to hear what bush said on first domestic speech video.. go to the TDB- cheat sheet video(click thru).. he 's there in all of his splendor and grandor.. speaking as if ENGLISH is a second langage to him..(Lol) and STILL can read worth a dayum..
..I will take a president using a telepromter anyday who is a articulate presenter and speaks CORRECT ENGLISH.. over someone(Bush) who can't read his OWN notes and speak ENGLISH as IF.. it is a second language..(( it' all in Bush's Videos @ cheat sheet videos))..
Sad little fellow.
Hey ......See all the phoney smiley faces and cute eye moves when he talks! I threw up.
Ref earlier post here is the information about Major Hasan(Ft. Hood) advising Obama on appointments to Homeland Security. The names are Kareem Shora and Arif Alikhan both devout muslims. Hasan picked these men for the job. The Director of Homeland Security confirmed this herself. Sites are: http://www.adc.org/ and http://www.gwumc.edu/hspi/old/pttf procccdings report 05.19.09.pdf
The claim by Worldnet Daily that Hasan advised on Homeland security has been debunked by Worldnet Daily itself:
Corsi: No evidence "the group played any formal role in the official Obama transition." In his article,
Corsi wrote: "While the GWU task force participants included several members of government,
including representatives of the Department of Justice and the U.S Department of Homeland Security,
there is no indication in the document that the group played any formal role in the official
Obama transition, other than to serve in a university-based advisory capacity."
HSPI Presidential Transition Task Force initiated in April 2008 -- well before Obama's election.
According to the HSPI Presidential Task Force report Corsi uses to establish the link between
Hasan and the organization, "in April 2008 The George Washington University Homeland Security
Policy Institute (HSPI) established the Presidential Transition Task Force, comprised of
national and homeland security experts, policymakers and practitioners."
According to HSPI, Hasan not a Task Force member, but, waslisted because he RSVP'd for groups' open events.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200911060011
Eight years of the nation and its laws coming apart at the seams while Bush bicycled, jogged, vacationed and otherwise dozed in the Oval Office.
GWB should leave Laura behind and take a vacation and leave his comment to some one who actually can think on his feet , not put his foot in his mouth. he have sold out the country , the Treasury , and our soldier's . i do not need to hear from him again.
Hey, DB editors, I have noticed that you are censoring comments without stating any rules or notification that a given statement has been deleted.
Please don't get like HuffPo and start censoring things you simply don't agree with. If you have a problem, let us know before you start censoring, OK?
This is all anyone needs to know about Bush.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/
Fast forward to 4 mins, 15 seconds in Part 1 and watch for ten seconds.
Is there one journalist with balls left in this country?
Thank you.
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