Jeffrey Bell provides an interesting history and analysis of the Bush Administration; it's a very long column, but save it if you can't read it. It provides a useful historical and political context for the events of the last eight years, and speculates on the state of the Republican Party and John McCain's presidential bid.
I think the analysis is mostly dead-on. George W. Bush is a president who somehow managed to score significant political victories, but never followed through on them. The tax cuts were never made permanent, Social Security was never reformed. Faith-based initiatives were popular, but never went through. Iraq is quickly becoming a victory in the war on global jihadism, but that fact has never been articulated; meanwhile, the victories for democracy in Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia have seen very little follow-up and have struggled.
The Bush Doctrine of making Islamic terrorism a national security issue rather than a law enforcement issue is sound, and I believe that Iraq will turn into a victory of some significance; in the end, George W. Bush, in my opinion, will likely be seen as a generally good president. But his errors in judgment may be difficult for Republicans to deal with for the next few years.
Posts
