Gosh, I love Peggy Noonan. I've linked to her many times, but linking to her recent article is pretty tough! I almost always agree with Noonan, and - man, this is hard to say - I agree with her again. In this article she articulates why she no longer supports the Bush Administration.
It's taken me this long to get here, but I'm here. Now, unlike my liberal friends, I don't think George W. Bush is a bad guy. I don't think he's this terrible dictator who is out to hurt America. I just don't think Bush took advantage of the most polarizing event in modern American history to unite a country that wanted to follow his lead. Here's what Noonan says about this:
Bush the younger came forward, presented himself as a conservative, garnered all the frustrated hopes of his party, turned them into victory, and not nine months later was handed a historical trauma that left his country rallied around him, lifting him, and his party bonded to him. He was disciplined and often daring, but in time he sundered the party that rallied to him, and broke his coalition into pieces. He threw away his inheritance. I do not understand such squandering.
Instead of using wisdom to lead us out of crisis, Bush and Co. jumped the gun, like an eager child pouring a glass of milk, and made a huge mess. The Bush Administration's consistent bungling has not been intentionally malicious, but it has cost us dearly. Again, Noonan's words ring true:
What I came in time to believe is that the great shortcoming of this White House, the great thing it is missing, is simple wisdom. Just wisdom--a sense that they did not invent history, that this moment is not all there is, that man has lived a long time and there are things that are true of him, that maturity is not the same thing as cowardice, that personal loyalty is not a good enough reason to put anyone in charge of anything, that the way it works in politics is a friend becomes a loyalist becomes a hack, and actually at this point in history we don't need hacks.
It's sad for me to say it, but I'm no longer on board. Immigration is a disaster, the war is a quagmire, government spending is out of control, and the only thing I can say good things about is the abortion issue (at least Bush appointed pro-life judges). Call me liberal... Call me a flip-flopper... Call me un-American. When it's all said and done, I just can't feel good about this thing any more. I'd like to apologize to all my fans.
1 comment:
Count me in. While I do appreciate the number of terrorist attacks that have been avoided, I cannot help but be angry at how this administration has handled the war (pulling many troops from Afghanistan where Bin Laden is?!!?), jacked up immigration reform, and have all but ignored the skyrocketing gas prices. What's up with that? Whoever comes next will inherit a big mess.
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