Boo Who?

The boos that greeted former President Bush on the Mall in Washington and at Symphony Space in Manhattan and, no doubt, at venues across the nation and maybe around the world were misguided, or at least unfortunate, for two reasons.

1. If we are to take President Obama and his aspirations seriously, we should not be booing anyone but moving forward -- acting, not reacting. Hard to boo when you need your breath and your strength for herculean efforts in new directions. It's human and understandable to deplore the awful malfeasances of the last eight years, but I hope that the election of Obama says, precisely and loudly, "Don't waste your time." Scorn-heaping is in some ways an indulgence -- one of the childish things that the Bible and Obama have reminded us to try to put aside.

2. The dialectic at work: If we hadn't had Bush, we almost certainly wouldn't have Obama -- at least not now. George Bush hastened our readiness for a new kind of leader and a renewed kind of leadership. If Kerry or Gore had won their elections, their victories might easily have delayed this huge and welcome tectonic shift in our politics, our polity, our social evolution, by years if not decades. It's almost as if the American electorate needed these eight years to understand more clearly and more quickly what it had to do and what it had to stop doing. From up close, it has been a long, slow purgative process, but from the standpoint of history, it surely happened faster than it would have happened without Bush's goad. So while to decry the man and his administration comes naturally and understandably, maybe a moment's thought will show that he and his two terms in office were self-inflicted requirements we had to fulfill in order to graduate. No need to applaud Mr. Bush, but no need to boo him, either. He was our own doing, after all, and anyway, we are, perversely, in his debt.

Postscript: Even those who didn't vote for Bush must bear some responsibility for his election, it seems to me. Did we all do everything we could to defeat him? I didn't, I am ashamed to say. This inertia on the part of some who detested Bush is what in part galvanized the gigantic efforts on behalf of Obama in '08. It appears that people finally realized that they couldn't just sit back, denounce, and then vote.
And yes, I agree--Bush's Presidency was not worth the death of even one American soldier or one Iraqi civilian. But I still believe that his Presidency mobilized the enormous support for Obama, and I still say, Don't bother giving him the mustachioed-villain treatment of booing and hissing. Prosecute him.

Comments

[fionaula]

I agree that democrats who sat on their hands for 8 years and allowed a Cheating, lying, egomaniac to destroy America are to blame. I agree that somelike you, Mr Menaker(and Chris Matthews and Mike Barbnacle) are to blame.Whinning about poor form, lets all be bygones, thats not classy...Its all a big game to you bunch. The suffering of Americans is not over because this criminal and his gang are finally out of office. He walks away with my tax dollars paying his pension.Gore and Kerry actually won the elections but but were too cowardly to challange the theft. If we were truly want to follow the bible, This criminal and his cohorts should have been stoned, not booed.

[BarryS]

excuse me. you may share responsibility, but I don't. I tried at each step to vote against, to talk out against, to lobby against the 8-year reign of Bush. I didn't Ponzi, scam, over-leverage, over consume. so speak for yourself.

BTW, during the Johnson years, I was right every step of the way, predicted correctly the result of every [stupid] move.

Perhaps you were taken in, in which case you have again: only those starving individuals who steal a loaf of bread are criminals, not the mass murderers, and those who violate ours laws and constitution.

[darker]

BOOING IS IMPORTANT.

Booing ACKNOWLEDGES the travesty of GWBush.
Lack of such acknowledgment is denial that will lead to similar disasters.

Booing is important reaction and communication.
Don't muzzle it!

[wallyone]

Vietnam gave us Nixon.
Watergate gave us Carter.
Iran hostages gave us Reagan.
Perot gave us Clinton.
Monica gave us Bush.
Hillary's Iraq vote, $4 gasoline, mortgage and financial crisis gave us Obama (along with his incredible political and personal gifts).

THIS is the real reality.

[FreeDem]

Obama is far more a Creature of the Internet than a creature of the reaction to Bush. If Gore had been in Office and Enron exploded (as it was poised to do) we might have learned the necessary lessons then and not wait for Enron to be just the firecracker before the "Mushroom Cloud" that Bush has left.

Civility is for those who and not just saying nice doggy because they broke the big stick over your nose and haven't come up with another yet, but will go back to being totally unsocialized when they find one.

[Senzasord]

Please recall that George W. Bush stole both elections, so any suggestion that the majority of the American people installed him into power is patently ridiculous. Given that inauspicious start, his junta reigned illigitimately. Their policies brought forth the ruination of our economy, our industry, our middle class, our system of laws, our Constitution, our educational system, our infrastructure, at least one major city.

It is a testament to the patience and civility of the American people that booing is all they did. Anywhere else in the world and there would have been a myriad of assassination attempts every time he raised his head.

He is gone but he cannot be forgotten, because make no mistake, he and others like him are plotting ways that they can usurp power once again. It wouldn't surprise me if that included abetting another terroist strike.

[lynettema]

There were those of us that new before GW took office that he would make war on Iraq. When he did, we wrote out Congressmen begging them to vote against it. We have a right to, "Boo." There were those who voted for GW - twice. It took longer for some of them to realize that they had been lied to and betrayed. They have a right to, "Boo." Bush will be though of as criminal by many of us until the day we die. We believe he and his administration should be prosecuted. In the meantime, all we have is "booing." Don't even try to take that away from us.

[Ides]

Our own doing? I don't want credit for Bush when I voted for Gore and Kerry, and those McCain voters sure don't get credit for Obama.

[deeppeace]

True--he did say he was 'a uniter,' didn't he?! Brought us all together, after all.

I was thinking, as I listened to the booing, that suddenly it was safe to boo him and not fear the CIA, FBI or palace guard. I haven't had that feeling since Nixon. And I don't want it again.

[JoeAmerican]

My only concession with Bush is that we don't know how he altered the future by invading Iraq (let alone issues surrounding 9/11). Sure, we're upset about everything that happened and he could very well go down in history as overseeing America's worst foreign policy decision. But yet, who knows what future calamity he may have saved by removing Saddam Hussein and, as the article points out, even bringing Obama to the Presidency, to help unite the world.

History will decide the success of his Presidency? Perhaps. For now I'll give him the "unknown future."

[JacksonJones]

Thanks for a well written, well thought out piece. After due consideration, however, I think a momentary BOOOO is quite warranted, somewhat cathartic, and minimally distracting.

[apduncan1]

No, he was not our own doing; he was selected not elected. The second presidency was a failure.

He deserved every shoe and boo thrown his way.

[Zippy64]

Sorry, after 8 years of being herded into "free speech" cages it was time for Bush to hear just how unhappy the American people were with him.

No need to clutch the pearls.

[edgarallenpoe]

When was the last time that you heard that many people chanting the same thing? What you heard was the voice of the American people. The common sentiment is that Bush deserves a disrespectful send-off.

[AddyGmom]

How do you know folks were booing?? They were shouting "Booooooosh. Boooooosh." It wouldn't have bother dubya anyway. He's a legend in his own mind.

dubya made his nasty little bed, now let him lie in it.

[JacksonJones]

You, sir, are John Oliver, innit?

[deeppeace]

Wasn't that a great bit?!