History lesson for Bush-haters

Cartoonist Pat Oliphant (8/9, Opinion) and The Star’s strident legion of Bush haters who have imperiously declared President Bush to be the “worst president ever” would do well to learn a lesson from history.

Harry Truman, that wonderful icon of the Democratic Party, left the White House in 1953 with poll numbers that were almost as dismal as President Bush’s. Today no reputable historian — Republican or Democrat —- would seriously argue that Truman was the “worst president ever”.

Ultimately, history will be George W. Bush’s judge, as it has been with every president who has preceded him. And I firmly believe that history will judge President Bush much more equitably — and much more favorably — than you people have.

James F. Meyer
Overland Park

Comments

[TinaMcG]

>>" I have been in 57 states so, and I have two or three more to go."

"Israel will always be a friend of Israel".<<

The Isreal remark was a simple slip of the tongue, and when I heard him say it a couple weeks ago, I figured he'd be skewered with it. The 57 states remark? Chalk it up to saying fifty instead of forty. We all make misstatements (go ahead, I just threw you a bone). McCain makes them, Obama makes them, the Clintons make them.

But Bush...oh my God. No one can top these:
"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."

""There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

And my all time favorite, spoken on New Year's Eve, three months after the 9-11 attacks: "All in all, it's been a very good year for Laura and me."

Stupid is one thing. Blatantly insensitive is another.

[Jim]

"I still believe that Congress's approval rating is less than Bush."

That's true, and one of the consistently top-rated reasons people give is that they haven't done enough to push back against Bush and get us out of Iraq.

And they're right.

[kcstar_is_one_sided]

I still believe that Congress's approval rating is less than Bush.

[Rogue]

Lets see now Tina, you want to compare "bloopers"?

" I have been in 57 states so, and I have two or three more to go."

"Israel will always be a friend of Israel".

"As your commander of Chief".

"When they dropped 'the' bomb on pearl harbor."

And of course who can forget "er,ah,er,er, ah, ah, er, er ah, er, that is true".

[TinaMcG]

Sure, go ahead. Reserve judgement on Bush's presidency for another 50 years or so. But tell me -- are there volumes of "Trumanisms" like the Bushisms that have spawned a cottage industry in the last eight years? Even if Bush doesn't turn out to be the worst president ever, he's already won the title 'Most Embarrassing' and 'Least Stetesmanlike'. In any case, I'll make a prediction -- he has a lock on the 'Worst' category.

[Stifled Freedom]

James, this history is already history. Look at the last 8 years.

And didn't Bush already compare himself to Truman a few months back.