Political commentators are noting renewed interest among President Bush and his team in the administation's legacy.
The legacy obsession has been cited in the mainstream media, like the Washington Post to the political blogs, like Powerline.
Lynne Olson wrote an article for the Washington Post on July 1 that theorizes history will remember Bush not as his stalwart hero, Winston Churchill, but as the dunderheaded Neville Chamberlain.
"I think Bush's hero would be bemused, to say the least, by the president's wrapping himself in the Churchillian cloak. Indeed, the more you understand the historical record, the more the parallels leap out -- but they're between Bush and Chamberlain, not Bush and Churchill."
But not everyone expects Bush to receive poor marks from historians.
Paul Mirengoff, reacting in an entry at Powerline, said Olson's piece was pessimistic and wrong about Bush, Chamberlain and Churchill.
"Olson ... puts forth the absurd proposition that President Bush more closely resembles Neville Chamberlain than Winston Churchill. Steven Hayward correctly observes that Olson's piece is too "dismal" to warrant a point-by-point rebuttal. For example, Olson makes no mention of that which, more than anything else, Chamberlain is remembered for -- his underestimation and appeasement of an expansionist dictator."
The Bush legacy. Critics are convinced time will be particularly hard on this two-term president. Others, more sympathetic, insist that history will judge him more favorably.
What do Times' readers think the history books will say in 20 years?
-- Brandon Leonard, intern, The Washington Times
Comments (6)
Bush will be remembered as the imbecile who turned a radical Islamic fringe group into a worldwide movement against America and her allies.
Posted by Pat McAree | July 16, 2007 6:46 PM
First of all, people should despise revisionist history and its circuitous illogic. There is no logical path connecting a similar legacy of Chamberlain to Bush. Bush will be remembered for underestimating the complexity of the Middle East cultures. He will also be remembered for appropriately managing the ascension to the "false plateau" on the democratic fitness landscape as Winston Churchill suggested "It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." Complexity has short foresight horizons and there is no way back to the point of beginning. One can only move ahead in managing it.
Posted by Larry Stone | July 17, 2007 8:35 AM
Bush has one accomplishment so far and I'm willing to bet that it will be the only one: Supreme Court nominations.
He has failed miserably in every other aspect of his presidency. He's attacked two nations that haven't attacked us and wants to attack a third in the Middle East. He's on the verge of another cold war with Russia (this time our fault). Immigration - enough said. He's been everything but a conservative and comes awfuly close to turnig this nation into a hardcore police state. No Child Left Behind is a joke and a waste. Failed on Social Security reform. Continually lies to his constituents (think immigration and Harriet Miers being "the best candidate"). He's an imperialist president. And there are many other things that would take up too much time and space on this blog.
Bottom Line: THE WORST...and I voted for the guy.
Posted by r.a.p. | July 17, 2007 9:45 PM
It is very difficult to say in the present how the harsh judgments of history will fall upon the shoulders of our contemporaries. Yet, there are some indications.
History is far more likely to compare President Bush to President Wilson than it is to Neville Chamberlain. If you remember, President Wilson tried to warn the world that a League of Nations was necessary to protect peace in the future. At home, the politicians turned against Wilson's support of the League of Nations and defeated it.
After the Senate defeat, William Allen White wrote, "With Calumny rampant around him, he tasted the ingratitude of his republic, the statesman's ancient cup of hemlock. No wonder that on the high and empty altar where the flame of his fame was quenched and the cold chard ashes were strewn, he lay helpless as the high priest of the temple cut out his heart."
White's point was that Wilson was transformed from being a very popular president to being sacrificed by his own shorted-sighted people who were weary of the fight. As it turned out, history has judged that Wilson was right and it took another world war to realize the need for the United Nations.
It turned out Wilson was right when he rejected the French plans to seek reparations from Germany which later resulted in the radicalization of the German people.
Like Wilson, Bush is looking at the long term. He is, however, surrounded by opposition that has the short term in mind just like they did in Wilson's day. The Senate is so short sighted that they only days ago wanted to leave Iraq in 120 days despite dire warnings about the resulting consequences and warnings that we could end up leaving the region so unstable that we would likely have to go back into a worse situation. Regardless of the reasons why went to Iraq to begin with, history will respect Bush's commitment to see the long term goals through rather than risking short term gains.
History could look at Alfred Hitchcock's movie, "Lifeboat," to best gauge the present times we live in. In "Lifeboat," there is a very valid historic lesson that is largely ignored. The lifeboat is a metaphor for a democratic nation and they pick up a U-Boat captain in their lifeboat and there are all kinds of disagreement as to whether they should throw him back into the sea or keep him in the boat despite the fact that he is a Nazi. Gradually, the Nazi takes over the whole boat.
The lesson of that movie is that a democratic people are disadvantaged when they are up against the single minded zealot such as a Nazi, but it could also be an Islamic terrorist. The movie "Lifeboat" is the greatest commentary on the times that we live. History will note that our people were disadvantaged in this fight and that we lost it because we ate our own.
Posted by Wyatt Kopp | July 19, 2007 5:47 AM
History will be written after New York City is destroyed. After violence and unrest occurs in New England because food cannot be trucked through I-95. At about the same time the San Andreas fault will give way and the violence and unrest will spread to the west. Then, the Asians will stop financing our debts and the coup de grace will be complete. We are heading down a very bad road like lambs to the slaughter. You will see all of this in your lifetime.
Posted by X | July 19, 2007 5:56 AM
Unfortunately, it all depends on whether we win this war on terror or whether we shift our assets toward another contrived war on poverty.
Posted by L. Werres | July 20, 2007 6:48 AM