Farewell, O Decider

It's hard to say anything new or interesting about George W. Bush's farewell address Thursday night. But one thing is worth noting about Bush's self-presentation: several times he refers to "tough decisions" that proved unpopular:

Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I've always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.

Here's the thing: Bush has never conveyed the impression that he found it hard to make decisions. Quite the opposite. Being "the decider" seemed quite easy for him, something he relished. Bush never really bucked public opinion -- that would imply some reckoning with the reasons for opposition to his policies and for his own unpopularity -- he simply ignored it. And once he made a call he rarely looked back, claiming to be untroubled by whatever negative consequences might flow from it.

So, I think the focus on "tough decisions" is another post-hoc rationalization. Bush's decisions were "tough" not because he carefully weighed difficult issues and possible outcomes, but tough in hindsight because many of those decisions had disastrous results that the public deplored. Bush is trying to make himself look courageous for keeping his hand on the tiller during hard times, implying that was what made him unpopular. But in fact most of this mess was of his own making.

johnmcquaid.com/blog

Comments

[Dukedraven]

To paraphrase Oliver Hardy: "Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into, Dubya."

[RepugsOut08]

Bush's life history shows a pattern of failure and incompetence, and yet he believes he's very competent. That's a dangerous combination to have in a leader, as the last eight years have dramatically shown.
Sarah Palin has the same problem. Thankfully the voters kept her far away in Alaska, where her incompetence can be held to a minimum.

[offred]

Anyone can make a decision. Not everyone can make a wise decision. Dubya could never understand the distinction.

[robertlockwoodmills]

HuffPost's Pick

It wasn't a "tough" decision to torture detainees, some of whom where innocent. It wasn't "tough" to spy on Americans without a warrant, or to out Valerie Plame, or to fire attorneys who refused to prosecute people for political reasons. Stealing two elections was sort of tough, but that's not what Bush talks about when he says the job was tough.

When you think about it, the worst things his administration did were actually easy. Start a war on false pretenses while your vice president becomes rich in the process ("tough" would be giving the money back). Get in bed with Ken Lay, then pretend he was a casual acquaintance even though he spent at least two weekends in the White House. That's easy when you're the president. Sign bills to give the appearance of cooperating with Congress, then fail to execute the laws while claiming extraordinary powers as present. Really quite simple. Hire incompetents for key jobs, and give them medals after they screw up. No sweat.

Bush's failures aren't matters of judgment. They're matters of character. He never had the character to be president, and nothing he says or writes now will change that.

[Chubbster]

The Hague should be the next stop for the team.

[PADDYWHACK]

We may not actually have survived his malicious administration,the long slow roll of economic disasters has barely begun.He enriched all his profiteering friends,but weakened us all in the process.He was a clueless tool of the Neocons whose pockets are dragging on the ground,as our butts soon will be.

[macohmz]

To me, it looked like he was following a plan that was laid out before he ripped off the presidency the first time. Bush had to stick to the plan. He didn't have the intelligence to "ad lib" so he couldn't stray. That "plan" in hindsight, looks a lot like what was laid out in the "Project for a New American Century." Especially the "New Pearl Harbor" part.

[WmC]

Think Progress has an excellent collection of 43 of Boosh's appointees that make him the worst president ever.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/17/bush-43-worst/

[darker]

Bush has no clue because he is hands-off on everything.
Bush has always had a sweep up crew to "take care of things".
Bush does nothing by himself, ever. Never has and never will.
That is the CORE of the problem with Bush.

In Texas his role as "governor" was ceremonial while others ran the show.
Bush used the same hands-off model as president, while Cheney & Bushies ran the show their way.

All Bush could do is stutter, sputter and lie. Because he was never in charge,
has no command of details and is at a loss to answer any questions about anything.

[goldcoastsailor]

To himself he was true, he did it his way, and in the eyes of his dog he was a man. Misunderestimated? I would say, not underestimated enough.

[lbhart]

Dear Mr. (Outgoing) President,

Get a clue, sir. You have shown to be incapable of learning from or acknowledging your mistakes. So, to say that you would have "done things differently" is only more of the same revisionist history you are trying to force upon the nation. We recognize your lack in judgment. No need to make yourself look any worse.

Signed,

All of us with our eyes open

[sws3030]

No doubt he would do some things differently....such as build even denser walls to keep the American people from finding out what was going on.

Good riddence to this menace.

[AxelDC]

Bush's greatest failure was in politicizing 9/11. I lived and worked in DC on 9/11, and had to walk home from work early because we were told that terrorists had attacked the Metro. I could see the cloud of smoke rising from the Pentagon from my kitchen window.

By 2004, I couldn't hear the words "9/11" drip from Bush or Cheney's lips without getting angry, because they had taken an event that affected myself and millions of other Americans directly and turned it into a club for abusing their political rivals. Republicans in Nebraska or Idaho would belittle the people of NYC and DC for not supporting Bush/Cheney because we "hadn't learned the lessons of 9/11" even though the attacks occurred in our neighborhoods.

Instead of using 9/11 to unite the nation, as FDR did with Pearl Harbor, Bush demeaned the memories of those who died under his watch by turning 9/11 into a Republican political tool for tax cuts, invading Iraq and whatever other agenda item it seemed convenient for.

[Thorn]

Well, meet the new decider. Same as the old decider.

[RobinSeattle]

You would be wrong.

[CyrusBeaucephus]

Meet the new wingnut kooks--same discredited ideology as the old ones, same whining, too

[RepugsOut08]

Obama is the same as Bush? You must spend most of your time extremely confused. Please don't operate machinery or heavy equipment.

[jhamm1]

" I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. "

Not to put too fine a point on it, Bush, but your conscience sucks.

[blood1]

Another critical part was "I followed my conscience and did what I thought was right". That sort of excludes that the constitution may or may not have been consulted...as if I thought it was right, I did it. This is similar to the Nixon quote: If it is secret it is legal.

[Donkeykick]

Or like in that movie Frost/Nixon: "when the President does it it's not wrong."

Yeah. Right. Okey Dokey.

[pueblocolorado]

Remeber when Bush once said how much better it would be if he was a dictator or something like that.....turns out ... he operated like a dictator anyway.