Seven Years Later Tells the Story...

Said Rudyard Kipling,

"If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise"

Such are words to describe George W. Bush, our 43rd Commander-in-Chief. Seven years later and the Bush #43 story is all but told. Re-elected into office, our European allies gagged. President Bush, who stated that we will not be so arrogant as to nation build, decided to nation build post 9/11. Of course, fighting for good reason, right? Global democratic revolution and the Bush Docrine:


Afghanistan first, Iraq second, and Operation Democracy was on its way to overthrowing bad guys around the globe.

What exactly did seven years of GW Bush produce for America?

• No terror attacks upon our soil post 9/11
• Lower taxes for most Americans
• Conservative judges for America
• No Kyoto or Global Warming shenanigans

On the other hand, what cross will Americans bear attributable to the Bush adminstration?

"Guns and butter" policy of LBJ renewed itself. Butter for everyone on the kitchen table. War for patriotism, humanity, ignorance, and poverty was the devil's pact. Saddam and the Mushroom Cloud threat parallels LBJ's Gulf of Tonkin incident. The result:

1. 1 trillion dollars of war spending (including future health care GI benefits)
2. no vetoes in first 6 years of Presidential leadership
3. run-away deficits, spending, and national debt
4. plummeting dollar from a price of 120 in 2001 to 72 in 2008
5. perpetual war for perpetual peace (unending war)
6. indefinite deployment of combat troops
7. Global democratic revolution gave us Hezbollah Lebanon, the PLO in Palestine, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and global recruitment of Islamic terror networks globally
8. a mortgage crisis equal to the 1930's maybe?
9. imported inflation stemming from a weak dollar and insatiable Congressional spending
10. loss of global prestige, influence, and soft power

Call Bush #43 anything you wish. But a conservative he is not. These principles he tossed into the waste basket upon seeing the twin towers smoldering. The Bush doctrine replaced the humble foreign policy that he so promised Americans.

Standing upon the rubble in New York City with a bull horn, President Bush inspired Americans and all freedom-loving people around the globe with his grit and natural charm. "They will hear from us" about those who knocked these buildings down, said the President. They heard from us. Seven years later they (all nations) continue hearing from us.

Job approval ratings in the 30% range, allies extricating themselves from Iraq and Afghanistan, and an economic superpower's finances out of order have told us clearly that greatness does not await this President.

Rudyard Kipling's great lines come to mind in Monday morning quartebacking Bush #43's legacy:

"If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise"

History will judge George W. Bush's effectiveness better than we do today.