After eight years in office, President Bush is a changed man; well, sort of. The strains of his White House years have manifested themselves in noticeable ways, particularly in recent months: his default facial expression is now a demure one, and his once salt-and-pepper hair is becoming whiter by the day. In public, his malapropisms have become less common - though he stills delights with the occasional gem. Most interestingly, however, has been the transformation from a man who thought, spoke and acted from his gut - leaving little room for a role to be played by reason or public opinion - to the demoralized caricature before us today who, in his final weeks, is finally beginning to comprehend the scope and significance of his own unpopularity. While it is common for outgoing presidents to embark on a victory-lap to celebrate their achievements, President Bush has turned away from his common refrain of, "history will judge me," by jumping out ahead of the history books in an attempt to shape his legacy while still in office.
The most revealing example of President Bush's new found concern over his legacy is the White House's publication of a 41-page document entitled, "100 Things Americans May Not Know About The Bush Administration Record." In any list of "100 Things..." I would expect that the laundry-list provided would have been numbered. Either, I have set the bar too high in my expectations of the Bush Administration or, the White House recognized that they could not come up with one hundred positive achievements and sought to avoid drawing attention to this fact by not numbering the points.
In turning to a more substantive discussion, let us begin, as the document does, with the point that the Bush Administration has "kept America safe." Important to add, as it does, that this refers to the period after September 11th. This document is, consequently, glossing over the fact that the Bush Administration was on watch for the most deadly terrorist attacks on American soil, choosing as such to relegate the events of that day to the position of footnote - figuratively speaking, that is. Furthermore, there is much strength to the argument that the U.S. response to 9/11 has, in fact, made us less safe through actions which have fueled extremism in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Another point that seems to have slipped through the White House's editing process is the statement that the Bush Administration "warned of the risk that government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posed to America's financial security beginning in 2001." Told as I am that this is a document being used to highlight success, I find myself once against questioning the intelligence of Bush Administration officials, particularly those responsible for the document's production and dissemination. Why, if the Republicans were aware of such risks, did nothing ever get achieved in the way of addressing them? Ah, yes: the popular blame game centered on the Democratic Congress. Well, if my memory serves me correctly President Bush had a Republican majority in Congress for six years. Therefore, between 2001 and 2006, the Bush Administration recognized a problem and had the capability to address it, and yet it did nothing.
To understand the full measure of this document as a reminder of President Bush's failures, I encourage you to visit the White House website and take a look. Above all, this document shows that though President Bush may be eager to get an early start in shaping his legacy, his attempts to do so have, so far, been marred by the same level of incompetence that has come to define his Administration these past eight years.
