Not great, mind you, but good. Out of the last five Republicans who made it to the White House he stands out as the best of the bunch.
That’s right, I’m saying Bush was a better president that Ronald Reagan.
His leadership during the First Gulf War was a signal achievement. He pulled together an international coalition and kept it together, and he did it based on first-hand knowledge and experience. As a young man he fought in World War II. I say he fought, as in he risked his life in actual combat. That meant he got a look at the military from the inside. He also got an insider’s look at the federal government from years of working for Nixon and Reagan. As director of the CIA he developed a familiarity with the military intelligence establishment. That meant he knew how the reports are made, how to read them, and how to use them.
Not least of all, he had a high degree of international knowledge. During his eight years as Vice President he served as Reagan’s chief representative overseas, the one who went around the globe shaking hands with world leaders and attending funerals and other events. At the time it became a putdown for him. His critics called him the “You die, I fly” man. When the Mideast was engulfed in crisis, however, all that flight time turned out to be worth its weight in gold.
Bush didn’t have to run around hastily winning friends and making allies. That part had already been done. Just look at the disparate list of nations he gathered together for a single purpose and see how it stacks up against other such coalitions.
I won’t mention anybody’s name here. You can if you wish.
Reagan could not have done it. At least he could not have done it personally. He didn’t have the knowledge or experience. If the invasion had happened while he was president he would have depended on Bush and others to do the work for him. He would have made all the speeches, naturally, and I’m sure they would have been pretty speeches, but the actual work would have been led by his Vice President, among others.
More importantly, Bush not only knew how to start the action. He also knew how to stop it. When the battle was won, Kuwait was liberated, and the troops were charging down the road to Baghdad, he did not hesitate to halt them. The man who had seen combat in person and actually read the intelligence reports had sense enough not to go into Iraq without an exit strategy. He didn’t need any banner to tell him the mission was accomplished. It was a simple case of we’re done here, let’s wrap things up.
I think that’s what they call statesmanship. The term is tossed around so lightly it’s hard to be sure, but I’m willing to use it here.
And as a topper, he raised taxes. During his campaign he was the original Grover Norquist: “Read my lips. No new taxes.” Like any good politician he played politics to get elected. Then came the actual job, with real-world duties and real-world expenses like massive military operations that no one knew they were going to have to budget for. He could have followed the good politician’s route and kicked the can down the road, let everybody’s grandchildren worry about paying for it. Instead, he said let’s try and pay for this now.
And not only that, he owned his decision. I remember watching the speech in the 1992 campaign where he did it. Yes, he made the pledge and yes, he had broken it, but it had to be done. When you run up bills you have a duty to pay them down, whether you’re a person, a business, or a government. That means you may have to cancel the trip to Disneyworld you promised your kids or postpone the dividend you promised your stockholders or break the pledge you made to the people who voted for you.
Call it betrayal if you want. You could also call it responsible leadership. I choose the latter.
As I said, not a great president, but a good one. If you divide the post-war Republican presidents into two classes, good and bad, here’s how they shape up. Eisenhower was a good one. Nixon, Reagan, Bush the younger, and Trump are bad ones. George senior goes next to Eisenhower in the good group.
Thank you for your service, Mr. President.