Bush’s Top Ten
January 14th, 2009 by Nick SaintThe Weekly Standard has a glowing review of the Bush era, listing his top 10 achievments. Here they are, with commentary. Boldface type is the Standard, the rest is Despotic wisdom:
1.) [H]is decision in 2001 to jettison the Kyoto global warming treaty so loved by Al Gore, the environmental lobby, elite opinion, and Europeans.
Strictly speaking, I’m with them. Kyoto had zero chance in congress, and wasn’t all that hot anyway. Admitting the obvious truth that Kyoto was something we weren’t going to do could have been a good way to start talking about what we were going to do. As it turns out, what we were going to do was nothing, which wasn’t such a hot approach either.
2.) Second, enhanced interrogation of terrorists. Along with use of secret prisons and wireless eavesdropping, this saved American lives. How many thousands of lives? We’ll never know. But, as Charles Krauthammer said recently, “Those are precisely the elements which kept us safe and which have prevented a second attack.”
If Krauthammer has any evidence for this claim, he didn’t let the Weekly Standard in on it. That anyone considers this an accomplishment is too depressing to dwell on. On to:
3.) [T]he rebuilding of presidential authority, badly degraded in the era of Vietnam, Watergate, and Bill Clinton. He didn’t hesitate to conduct wireless surveillance of terrorists without getting a federal judge’s okay. He decided on his own how to treat terrorists and where they should be imprisoned. Those were legitimate decisions for which the president, as commander in chief, should feel no need to apologize.
This is breathtaking. It’s almost as if they’re trying to sound evil. If they cited Skeletor as an advocate of this position, it wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. Sure, torture is awesome, but if you clear it with some bigshot judge, it kind of cheapens it. Also: ‘the era of Vietnam, Watergate, and Bill Clinton’? I remember that era well. Or, perhaps I wasn’t born. It’s hard to tell with these discontinuous eras…
4.) [U]nswerving support for Israel.
If there’s one thing I demand out of my president’s support for foreign governments, it’s refusal to swerve. If we actually take Israel’s actions into account when determining our response to them, the terrorists have already won.
5.) His fifth success was No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the education reform bill cosponsored by America’s most prominent liberal Democratic senator Edward Kennedy.
Yes, this was very good. As part of a general Bush-can-do-no-right attitude, people love to focus on the shortcomings of the act, but the fact is that the federal government is spending a lot more on education than it was, and has the beginnings of a system for holding schools accountable. It isn’t enough money, and nowhere near enough reform, but he did some good here.
6.) Bush declared in his second inaugural address in 2005 that American foreign policy (at least his) would henceforth focus on promoting democracy around the world.
Can declaring something in a speech really be considered a major accomplishment, if you get through it without stuttering? No.
7.) [T]he Medicare prescription drug benefit, enacted in 2003.
Sure, why not?
8.) John Roberts and Sam Alito.
Conservatives who do what they want without worrying about the Constitution, rather than liberals or moderates who do what they want without worrying about the Constitution. My dog in this fight was killed off many decades ago. Whatever.
9.) He strengthened relations with east Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Australia) without causing a rift with China. On top of that, he forged strong ties with India.
A mixed bag here. I like Australians as much as the next guy, though I’m not convinced that much hangs on whether we are great friends, or simply very good friends. Forging strong ties with India sounds terrific - but then, so does coming to an understanding with Iran. I think the Standard would agree that giving our blessing to Iranian nukes and helping them build reactors outside Tehran wouldn’t be such a good price to pay for it.
10.) Finally, a no-brainer: the surge.
A no-brainer! Remember when that asshole started a war in Iraq and didn’t have a plan or enough troops to run the country? Good thing Bush came along to clean up. That first guy really sucked, though.
Sir Not-appearing-in-this list.) Combating AIDS in Africa. Admirable stuff. But, you know, not exactly water-boarding good.
