Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
--Theodore Roosevelt
Listening to the fatuous Al Gore claim his undeserved Nobel Prize and maunder on about how America is ruining the planet makes me realize how fortunate America is to have as its president George W. Bush. Yes, Bush has his ample share of failings. He occasionally speaks at the fifth-grade level. He is too willing to surround himself with cronies and sycophants. An unsupple man, Bush sometimes reminds me of the toy soldier who walks into the wall and keeps going.
Bush's weaknesses, however, are more than compensated for by his one great strength. This is a man with unbelievable tenacity. No American president in my lifetime, not even Reagan, had Bush's guts. Perhaps one would have to go all the way back to Franklin or Teddy Roosevelt to find comparable determination. On the international stage, Bush's stamina recalls that of Churchill. Consider: when Bush was elected in 2000 with the tiniest conceivable margin--a margin so slender it required Supreme Court intervention to place him in the Oval Office--I was sure that Bush's proposed tax cuts were dead. But no: Bush pushed ahead and got most of what he proposed. And the subsequent health of the economy--low interest rates, low unemployment, steady growth--has undoubtedly been nourished by Bush's tax cuts.
Then in 2006, after the midterm debacle, I thought that Bush's Iraq policy was finished. And you could hear the pundits and the newly-elected Democratic congressmen and the pathological Bush-haters gleefully declaring, "Now he's going to have to start pulling out of Iraq." Instead Bush pressed for an increase of 20,000-25,000 troops. Incredibly, he got it. Congress shrieked and howled but went along. The American people were very doubtful, but Bush serenely told them to "wait and see." Bush has seemingly singe-handedly pursued his vision for Iraq even when his allies both at home and abroad have dwindled or lost their nerve. And once again Bush's policy seems to be working. Iraq is becoming more peaceful, and apparently there are Shia and Sunni leaders cooperating with the Americans. The Bush-haters are still with us, but the wind has gone out of the antiwar movement.
Bush has had a tough second term in office. But I think history will be kinder to him than the opinion polls, at least in the past couple of years, have been. When the country looks back at Iraq and sees a standing, even if fragile, democracy, Americans will see that when they became impatient, Bush forged ahead. When they were ready to give up, he was undeterred. And as a consequence the Middle East has its first Muslim democracy, and a pro-American democracy to boot. The lesson of Iraq may well be: Thank God we didn't listen to those advocates of defeat on the left; if we had, it would have been Vietnam all over again.
The diplomat Clare Luce once wrote that history, which has no room for clutter, will remember every president by just one line. I'm not quite sure how Bill Clinton will be remembered: perhaps his only distinguishing mark will be the one that Paula Jones identified. As for Bush, he will go down in history as the president who refused to back down, and if staying the course in Iraq proves to be the right move, then Bush could be remembered as one of America's great presidents.
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 42)
61. He should be brought up on war crimes.
Crimes against humanity. And waging an aggressive war. I wonder if it will ever happen. Maybe when the fog is lifted from the neocon rhetoric.
Richard at 11:18AM on Dec 14th 2007
62. Well here comes the merger of fundamentalism with government. Dinesh of God is now also Dinesh of Sockpuppet. So his religion will take on all the luster of the bush administration and it will rightly deserve whatever its political opponents throw at it for its self-desecration.
If my America survives and this administration of nematodes doesn't slip us the rest of the way down the libertarian slope into the dungheap of fascism and naziism I doubt bush will be remembered as anything more than the sockpuppet he is with Dick Cheney's hand firmly lodged up his control hole.
And now Dinesh of the Almighty wants to merge his church of god with signs following sophistication into the final jigsaw piece of the neofascist corporazione that is the republican wet dream.
So dinesh is an agnostic that supports evolution but is also a fundamentalist who wants to infest government?
And he does everything he can to foment hatred between the sarpint kissers and anybody that ISN'T certifiable.
Can you imagine a world that is perpetually ruled by cheney and maybe pat robertson or somebody with no more contact with the thirteenth century and beyond than this little traitor?
D'Souza is no american by any measure I could take. He foments civil unrest, attempts to pit fundamentalists against 'atheists', preaches that an army of organized 'atheists' are out to destroy christianity.
He is as out of bounds as Joseph McCarthy and is abusing the hospitality of the country that gives him the freedom he wipes his ass on.
If you are a loyal american and you either think of yourself as an atheist or you just don't give a crap about his beliefs, he BURNS YOUR FLAG every time he dismisses you as some kind of trash that he's superior to!
I've had about enough of that. We have customs in this country that he should have adapted to by now, or if he grew up here DEFINITELY should have assimilated by grade school.
There is something distinctly alien about the way he continually shouts fire in a crowded theater.
I don't know if it's just me, but every time he publishes something new, I get a feeling like we'd just invited a barnyard animal into the living room.
I have no word for the feeling except to say his sense of decency comes from a foriegn source. He's sort of culturally autistic for want of a better term.
In any case this last post really gives me the creeps because it spills the beans about the rest of his agenda - create hatred for atheists, merge church with government, trash the constitution and throw us back what, ten centuries?
It may not be intentional, but it sounds suicidal to me. I don't see all this going in a good direction.
Clif at 3:17PM on Dec 14th 2007
63. EH - Saddaam only killed and tortured his own people right. You cant have it both ways. Are you only against killing if the US does it?
Memphis Rampage at 11:31AM on Dec 14th 2007
64. You say violence is lower in Iraq yet our young men and women are still coming home in body bags. I'm curious how many of those in body bags are naturalized citizens from India and if they were how would you feel then? The Iraqis have one hour of electricity a day, I am told. They have little if no running water. Bush's policy is causing misery for millions of people in Iraq. Disease is rampant. Over 4000 Americans dead. God knows how many Iraqis, possibly over one million. Many American families have lost loved ones and friends and in case you missed it Dinesh, this was all illegal. Bush will go down in history somewhat like Nixon. A liar, cheat and thief.
dungal1 at 11:23AM on Dec 14th 2007
65. ooh the politics of discord,
in hindsight we should never have went to irad. personally there in not one iraqi that is worth one of our troops. but, we are there you cannot say you support the troops but not the war. you undermine the effort and the moral. iraq needed and deserved hussien, they cannot govern themselves. they are too barbaric. let the religious islamic zealots have it and we will have world war 3. which is coming anyway
brian at 11:23AM on Dec 14th 2007
66. Interesting how jshahan333 likes to post things on blogs as if he is the total authority of all things seen and logically grasped. I am guessing that by the opinion of YOUR post you are the only one of us with a brain and eyesight living in this country.
This war is NOT a battle for freedom and it is your blind faith in authority that has mislead you to believe so. No, I would NOT agree to kill innocent people for my own material gain or to impose my ideology upon them. And I would not blindly follow any leader who made such a request of me. But then, I have morals and respect for life. Thank goodness for people like Ryan Anderson, RMWiersema, abbkaw and others, who wouldn't sheepishly follow a trigger-happy dictator.
emma at 11:29AM on Dec 14th 2007
67. Bush's legacy will be the deaths of half a million people. I hope he is tormented by the faces of each and every one of them for the rest of his days.
Richard at 11:27AM on Dec 14th 2007
68. What a suprise, brian thinks certain people are worth less than other people (see post 61 and well, ever other post of his).
Ryan Anderson at 11:32AM on Dec 14th 2007
69. linda,
into dick calling again because someone do not agree!! where is you compassion? where is your tolerance? or are you proving what others have known,you only have tolerance for who agree with you. could you be afflicted? by the way i went back and read your post about your time at the baptist church. how you had to witness. i never had that experiance with baptist. maybe you did. i am sorry that turned you away from the truth of christianities claim and made you atheist. but your very hateful when people do not agree with you. calling people a dick is not polite for a lady
brian at 11:31AM on Dec 14th 2007
70. "America" has become a punch line for much of the international communnity. We even lost our most ardent ally, the UK. How could you loose the UK?!
Yes, he has "stuck to his guns". To an insane degree. And keep in mind, there is always someone with a bigger gun.
Richard at 11:31AM on Dec 14th 2007
71. emma,
what respect do you have for people who do not agree with you? you seem to have little. why are you and linda this way. does atheism teach you this? morals? and you berate others for thier views. i guess i am not getting what is moral about you? angry and bitter by your tone,yes, but moral?
brian at 11:34AM on Dec 14th 2007
72. Whatever happened to the officer that volunteered to go to Afganastan, but when ordered to go into Iraq, said "NO" at the risk of a courtmarshal?
That is the kind of person we need leading. Someone with integrity and common sense.
Richard at 11:34AM on Dec 14th 2007
73. Actually Kent, I agree with you, up to a point. Let me ask you this. If GW were in a burning house and refused to leave, would you praise him for his determination. 'Brave Bush, he didn't let that fire intimidate him. Too bad he got all burned up by it, but he showed that fire who's boss.' Sticking to your guns can be a good thing, but maintaining failure at all costs is just stupid.
Do you know who GW reminds me of, King George the III. It's uncanny. Check it out. Even his religious fervor is akine to George 3.
One of the things that bother me about all GW supporters is this total disinterest in consiquences. It's like they think this is just like a football game. All they care about is winning, never mind what winning means. They would gleefully destroy this nation so long as they can say 'WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!' They don't seem to care what happens afterward, even if we 'win.' And yes, winning CAN BE just as bad as losing. Study military history and you'll find plenty of examples.
Oh, and I DO have the guts to pull the trigger. Just break into my house and you'll find out.
Will at 11:36AM on Dec 14th 2007
74. Did you ever hear of obsessive-compulsive disorder?
"Tenacity," my ass.
fjgajewski at 11:37AM on Dec 14th 2007
75. ryan,
iraq is not worth one of our troops.they do not want our democracy. they need a dictator. and they treat each other barbaric.the same way you atheist treat people who disagree with you. truly ryan you are mis-guided. we should have never went into iraq is what i said
brian at 11:37AM on Dec 14th 2007