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The Bush Scorecard
I feel like a lot of conservatives these days when I see my beloved right wing of the Republican Party in the descendency. I also continue to get whipsawed when I measure my approval rating of President Bush. Since I am like most Americans, on the side of the underdog, I can't help rooting for George W. Still, this blog is about truth, so here we go. I'll get to the nice guy issue in a minute.
Bush is great so far on:
• The decision to invade Irag and depose Saddam
• His attempt to install democracy in Iraq
• Keeping taxes low and our economy humming
• A cluster of traits including persistence, conviction, loyalty, and integrity
• Personal charm, including but not only when he is one-on-one
Bush, in my opinion, falls short on:
• Winning the war in Iraq
• His immigration policy
• Leadership in showing Americans and the world his vision of peace
• His communication skills in public
Bush the Nice Guy
I've said before that one of Bush's character traits is to want to be a nice guy.He desires to be loved by everybody. As a result, his approval rating is one of the lowest for any president in history.
When is it a good thing for Bush to be a nice guy?
Today was one example. President Putin is visiting the Bush family residence in Kennebunkport, Maine. Putin is a bad guy. He is the one leader in our world that could bring back the Gulags if he chose to do that. He has already nationalized private industries and curbed freedom of the press, and may be responsible for outright murder.
We could be hard and say we need to put Putin in his place. Yet, I don't see that we'd get much for this. I think Bush is right to coddle up to Putin and pour on the charm.Why? There is a time to be Reaganesque and say, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" and there is a time to be Bush-like, and say, "We congratulate President Putin on being the only one today to catch a fish."
Russia is not a democracy like ours. It has returned to a sort of democratic autocracy because they didn't know how to run a democracy. The mob took over and there was chaos. Now the Russians have a strongman again, and 70% of them are happy with him. The people wanted it this way. Bush being harsh to Putin would only alienate a whole nation. Sometimes, diplomacy is the right thing.
When is being a nice guy not right?
When waging a war. If you want to be popular as president when you are waging a war, you must win, period. There is no room to be showing the world and your people, in that war, that you are the fairest guy in the battle. You must win.Nice Guys Finish Last?
So, is it true that nice guys finish last? No, not all the time. They finish first when diplomacy is needed. They finish last in war. Lincoln was a nice guy much of the time. He was vicious, though, in war. Then, when he won, he was the sweetest guy in the world to the losers. That's how it's done.
Give Putin all the lobster he can eat. Give Al-Queda cocktails, Molotov that is, with a dash of bitters.
Rock
(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)
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I am reminded that this is exactly how Osama bin Laden, with American help and shoulder fired missiles, drove the Soviets from Afghanistan several years ago. The military, with Bush's blessing, is going to adjust to this new threat, however, unlike the Russians.
Democrats are the ones, I believe, in the untenable position on Iraq. Though the American people are disillusioned with Iraq and want the U.S. to get out, they are becoming aware of the bloody aftermath that will follow if the U.S. leaves. Moderate Democrats have gone on record with their votes and statements that they think the surge will fail. This puts them in the position of having to cheer for American failure in Iraq. They have always cheered for American failure in Iraq, in my opinion; but with these votes, this anti-American sentiment is exposed. Will Ted Kennedy, for example, ever say "Good job!" to Bush if the troop surge works? Never. Kennedy has committed to the failure of the surge, and will be looking for any signs that he has been right.
The Democrats have made the mistake of playing to the polls, instead of doing what is right. The American people will see through this.
If the surge doesn't work, then at least Bush will have tried. If it does work, then the world will be a better place; Democrats will be exposed as the demagogues they are; and Bush's stature will soar.
Nuclear Issues with Korea and Iran
Bush just had a major success with his "stubborn" policy with Korea. Thanks to the arm-twisting of the Chinese, Korea has agreed to stop developing nuclear weapons. This is a major diplomatic success for Bush. Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, independent as ever, thinks the United States is being bamboozled, much like happened to Clinton, where the North Koreans sign an agreement and then ignore it. In my opinion, though, this time is different, since, thanks to Bush's wisdom, China is included in the enforcement of the agreement; and North Korea does not want to cross China. Here again, the Democrats will not give Bush credit for this historic achievement, but the American people will.
If Bush is lucky, he can turn around now and use much the same tactic with Iran. In this case, with Korea as the model, he can urge the European powers, and Russia, to do the arm-twisting with Iran. This is not so far-fetched as it once seemed now that the Korean situation seems to have been solved.
Putin has been sounding hysterically critical of the U.S. lately, but Bush is not taking the bait. He is not responding in kind to Russia. This is just more evidence that Bush has matured into quite a diplomat as of late. He is acting and sounding presidential on the world stage, and his steadfastness is bearing fruit.
Global Warming
Every day now there is another scientist speaking up that the world is in hysteria about global warming, and that there is no evidence that the warming is caused by mankind's behavior. Yet, the consensus is there that Al Gore is right about the issue. To me, we are in the middle of another Copernicus syndrome. It is as if 75% of the scientists and an even higher percentage of the people were saying the sun revolves around the earth and not vice versa.
All I can do is keep expressing the truth, along with the 25% of the scientists who know what they are talking about.
This is the truth:
The earth may be getting warmer, but not as dramatically as feared. Some ice is melting on the globe, but other ice is thickening. Sea levels may rise, but only inches, and not the twenty feet that Al Gore preaches. Climate change may occur, but this is largely unpredictable. Computer models are highly complex, and bear little resemblance to reality. Plus, the effect of CO2 levels on global warming is not proven. There have been times in earth's history when CO2 levels were higher than now, and the earth was colder at those times than it is now. According to the same scientists who believe in the global warming hysteria, following Kyoto and decreasing CO2 levels will have a negligible effect on global warming anyway.
Unfortunately, Bush is buying in to the hysteria, as most world leaders have. So, we are on the verge of spending billions of dollars on corrective measures that have no guarantee of success. As I've said before, I think we ought to go green, and develop alternative forms of renewable energy, but we ought not to get hysterical about it. The sky is not falling.
Bush is wrong on this one. Let's hope he doesn't become a lemming.
Social Security
The Democrats have successfully demagogued this issue, and it is dead. The left have frightened Americans and especially seniors that privatizing Social Security would mean fewer or less secure benefits, while the opposite is true. Bush never did a good job of explaining this issue to the American people, and it appears as if his time is running out on it.
Capitalism
The Social Security issue is emblematic of Bush's inability to preach capitalism to the people. This is why the socialist left is rising, with people like Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy taking center stage. It would be very easy to use socialist countries as illustrations, for example, of the kind of bureaucratic nightmares that occur with socialized medicine. Bush, the first president in history with an M.B.A., is just not teaching capitalism effectively.