President George W. Bush has come out of his long post-presidential silence this week to promote his memoirs. His book “Decision Points” has him granting interviews all over the place.
I have made no secret how I feel about him.
I love the man.
I would go through a brick wall for him if he asked.
I am one of the “true believers.”
When other conservatives wavered and turned on him, I never did.
After the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 1941, he responded to Islamofascism in a way that should have been the approach in the 1970s.
His critics savaged him, but then again they hated him for existing and breathing. They never accepted the results of the 2000 election, when his opponent failed to steal the presidency.
So as I have said before and will keep saying, I don’t care if I am the last man standing next to him. He is right, and his critics are wrong.
Yet while I have these warm feelings toward the man, I am troubled with myself. I realize that one of the most admirable qualities he possesses is something that escapes me now, and maybe forever.
He is gracious.
I don’t know how he does it.
Maybe his Christianity teaches him to turn the other cheek, and he does.
I think about this because I met his press secretary Dana Perino a couple of years ago.
I asked her one question.
“Ms Perino, I feel like we are in a boxing match but only one side is throwing punches. When is President Bush going to start hitting back? His critics are not fit to lick his boots, yet when they attack him he doesn’t counterpunch. When will he give the left the verbal beating they deserve? When will he hit back?”
Ms. Perino gave me the answer I did not want to hear.
He was never going to hit back. In fact, his staff was ordered not to hit back. He was going to be gracious to the end.
This week he has been given tons of opportunities to bash his successor. After all, his successor spends every waking minute complaining about what he inherited. So if 44 spends more time attacking 43 than governing, would 43 finally take 44 to the woodshed?
Not for one second.
Being elected President does not make one Presidential. George W. Bush is the epitome of class, grace, and dignity, something his critics will never learn.
Sadly enough, I am a supporter, and I may never learn it either. This is a failure on my part.
When a left-wing columnist wrote a column attacking me, I wrote a rebuttal calling him a lying liberal scumbag.
My three books, while funny and entertaining, have a certain amount of vengeance in them. I go after people who have hurt me with a ferocity they did not expect. I have successfully ripped them to shreds, and occasionally made them cry.
I don’t know how President Bush can take such unwarranted abuse without exploding on the worst of his abusers.
(He did once get caught saying negative things about a Jayson Blair Times reporter, but he thought the microphone was off. So in that case he was not saying something bad, but merely thinking it. That is light years better than how most of us behave. Also, on that issue, he was right. The guy was one.)
I know his way is right and mine is wrong because he is at peace. I, while a happy guy, am in a constant state of war. I would not know tranquility if I tripped over it.
I remember working for a firm where my boss ordered his staff to be gracious with our business enemies. He knew they had bad intentions, but he would not sink to their level. Like President Bush, he knew that smiling at his enemies made them even crazier.
He would be cordial on the telephone, all the while knowing how vicious they were. I took a different approach. I explained to them using various bad words what I thought until their ears bled. Then I savaged them in person and in print. I even on a couple of occasions let them know that if they brought children into the world, that those kids would know how awful their parents were.
On Yom Kippur, I have enough misdeeds to keep my Synagogue in business on atonement day.
I admire President Bush and my old boss because they have the discipline I lack. I am disciplined in some ways, but not when dealing with people I consider bad.
I hope to one day meet President Bush. I just want to shake his hand and thank him. I believe his deeds were honorable and his heart is noble.
I still wish he would hit back.
I know he won’t.
I wish I would not hit back so ruthlessly.
I know I will.
George W. Bush will be gracious to the end. It is who he is.
He will forever be my President.
Yet long after the last tax is cut and the last terrorist is killed, I will remember and admire his character the most.
If I could be half the man he has become, I will have achieved a level of decency that will allow my quiet moments looking in the mirror to be much easier. I know I am too hard on people.
Even two years after he has walked away, I am still learning from him.
Thank you President Bush.
I salute you sir, and respect your civility, even if I am unable to emulate it.
His critics will never let up. They will never let go. They will hate him forever.
He will not hit back.
That is why I will, for as long as it takes.
He spent years saving me from harm due to potential bombs.
The very least I can do is reciprocate when the verbal bombs come at him.
God bless you President Bush. I will never understand your graciousness, but I honor and respect your decision to be this way.
eric
He is hitting back, with the one thing the left touts as their foundation. Peace and tolerance
Hes just sitting back using the passive aggresive technique of letting the junkie bottom out til he admits his ways are wrong and needs help.
And then…
he helps them
It’s amazing to read a piece like this in that it is regarding a man who is among the most hated human beings on the planet. I don’t know how personally “gracious” the man is, and I don’t particularly care. Actually, I don’t care at it. It is a superficial and subjective observation.
In the life of this nation, the Bush administration was the equivilent of a bout with colon cancer. The Bush years saw this country deeply damaged, divided and disgraced. But hey, he’s “gracious,” right? So who cares?
Amazing.
JMJ
“. But hey, he’s “gracious,” right? So who cares?”
You’re certainly not, and trust me more people care about him than they do you.
Have you ever had colon cancer ? I had rectal which is thee most painfu there isl and wouldnt equate that to the a$$ reaming we’ve gotten from the probe in cheif.
Many care as was reflected last week. The country got tired of the bullsht and whiney a$$ crying about everything being Bushs fault.
Bush did more for this world and country in the 2 months after 911 than Bambam has in his entire political career without casting blame on any predecessor or succession.
The man hasnt uttered a word in 2 years and is more popular than Barry.
face it, grow up, lose the hate, it creates positive logic.
I dont hate Obama anymore than I hate bad gas. I just cant wait til they go away so I can breath again.
I don’t personally hate Bush. I don’t think much of him, but that’s probably just my prejudice against poorly bred Blue Bloods. Of all the things that concern me about people of power of wealth, their graciousness is not even a remote, tiny blip on the radar. It’s what you do, not how you act while you do it. They say the Devil has “class,” ya’ know. Besides, from what I can see, he wasn’t even all that gracious. He had that aweful little snicker of his whenever he thought he was being clever (ingraciously snide), he wore his faith on his sleeve (literally, Biblically ingracious), and he kept terrible human beings in his confidence so all he had to do was sit back and let his rabid dogs, like Cheney and Rove, Rumsfeld and Bolton, commit his sniping for him, and there’s nothing gracious about having others do dirty work for you.
So, whatever. You guys think he’s gracious and somehow that makes up for his miserable presidency? Fine. Keep delluding yourselves.
JMJ
“poorly bred Blue Bloods.”
WTF is that supposed to mean ? Sounds like something outta “Boys from Brazil”
“their graciousness is not even a remote, tiny blip on the radar. It’s what you do, not how you act while you do it. ‘
Tell that to the next woman you have sex with.
Probably why you were a crappy waiter in favor of pooling tips
Graciousness is determined in how you recieve opposition.
Graciousness is not determined by how far you can bend over in front of our enemies as if they were allies while calling patriots enemies that need to be punished.
If any two words should never be in the same sentence they should be Obama and graciousness. Hes a self centered arrogant narcissist who worships only full length mirrors and lacks the graciousness to speak from the heart instead of the prompter because frankly he has little heart compared to GW.
graciouness is not reflected in forcing unconstitutional legislation against the majority of citizens who reject it. And dont give me that 60 civil rights crap, this aint about race unless your a black man persecuted for having a funny name
graciousness is a key element in diplomacy and so far all his diplomatic efforts….have failed, miserably.
Reagan, both Bushs didnt blame their predecessorsd.
Every whiney a$$ liberal to hit the oval office has always come out of the gate blaming everyone.
Yeah, they expediently say “I’m the boss and the buck stops here”
But what they dont tell you is that its their pic on that buck.
All the crap you guys dished out two years ago has hit the fan and is now in your face yet morons like Pelosi and Frank continue to espouse success in having their botoxed a$$es handed to them by throwing parties.
Sooo.. dont make yourself look any more clueless by calling anyone “delusional”.
As far as miserable presidencies go, weve had thiis debate a million times and each time all you came with was opinion, autocratic dictation, insults to peoples intellect and vitriolic crap from far left rags while I chewed up and spit your butt out with verifiable documented facts and transcripts to which you’ve never been able to refute.
JMJ;
“if anyone believes that they’re idiots”
Yet, you’ve never had any one example of the idiocy you claim.
Student of history…
so what ?
You’re clueless as to whats happening right in front of you
JMJ;
“It’s amazing to read a piece like this in that it is regarding a man who is among the most hated human beings on the planet.”
“AFP) – Jul 21, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s tumbling poll numbers have dipped below those of his predecessor George W. Bush at the same point in his White House tenure, according to a national poll released Tuesday.
Obama’s approval rating is 55 percent six months into his presidency, a USA Today/Gallup poll found. But 56 percent of those polled approved of the job done by George W. Bush after six months, the daily reported.”
Hated by who ? The left ?
Surprise surprise surprise.
Thats why 21 countries volunteered to the coalition.
Now, if you’re going to use Muslim exremists and those supportive of them, you might make sense
I couldn’t agree more Eric. Bush has always been gracious. The Bush haters set out to destroy his Presidency and it took 6 years of daily media attacks in order to get 50% of the people to believe their garbage. Bush always kept his head held high and did what was right for this country.
Micky, I was never a waiter. Sometimes I wonder you you get this stuff! I worked in a couple of restuarants as a kid – like 14, 15 – and I did some work with my wife’s family funnel cake business for some years. I am currently a manager of a pizza franchise, but that was a huge, recent switch for me. I spent most of my adult working like in the container line and auto parts mfg industries. It was my many years in trade that I saw the greatest damage done to this country by Free Traders like the Bush administration. More than the wars, more than the lax regulation, more than the irresponisble tax cuts for the filthy rich in a time of war – it was Free Trade that really wiped us out. And Free Trade is not a partisan issue. The real powers that be in this country have their way when it comes to trade, regardless of the party in power. The Bush administration was just another in a line of pimps, whoring us out to the world.
JMJ
okay, be pedantic, I dont care if you were the hostess boinking the manager. The point remains the same.
” I saw the greatest damage done to this country by Free Traders like the Bush administration. ”
You’re stupid.
This country was built on free trade before Bush was a glimmer in anyones eye
” whoring us out to the world. ‘
Yeah , Obama couldnt give it away at the G20.
Pathetic