DESPERATELY SEEKING A LEGACY IN THE FACE OF DISASTER


It’s not honest or fair, but it’s emblematic of the Bush Team--they insulate themselves from the constant clamor of dissent; the mountains of evidence of poorly planned and executed policy; the unanimous disapproval. They defiantly look beyond our gaze, arrogantly disregarding their failing grades, instead pointing to the nameless, shapeless jury of the future who will someday praise them. Seems we, the present, are just too small minded to fully appreciate the greatness yet.

At various times, Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Rice (along with Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and other loyal Bushies) have all conveniently and arrogantly attempted to use the media to convince the critics (i.e., most of the world) that what we may see as blunders are actually just not-yet-gelled victories. Through a loosely orchestrated campaign of exit interviews, they are barraging us with the talking points -- misinformation meant to muddle our collective memory into believing their revisionist history. They are concertedly attempting to avoid the harsh final verdict of a disastrous presidency, accusing their critics of lacking in the necessary prescience to appreciate how history will ultimately redeem them. It's been a constant refrain: forget the facts; listen to re-writes. And trust that, no matter what it looks like now, history will eventually come around to view them brilliantly.

Condaleeza Rice, perhaps more industrious than any of the others in working to salvage the failed legacy, this week refused to acknowledge the recent report by the Pew Global Attitudes Project summarizing the tarnished world view of the U.S. under Bush: "The U.S. image abroad is suffering almost everywhere." Rice refuted the conclusion with what has become a near-constant refrain: “What the Administration is responsible to do is to make good choices about Americans' interests and values in the long run, not for today's headlines, but for history's judgment."

Separately, she stressed "... you know, I really am someone who believes that you don't want to pay too much attention to today's headlines." Recognition of big achievements sometimes take a long time, she said.

Bush himself has repeatedly squirmed out of the scathing clutches of public disapproval by relying on the endorsements from the not-yet-surveyed public of the future:

"As far as history goes and all of these quotes about people trying to guess what the history of the Bush administration is going to be, you know, I take great comfort in knowing that they don’t know what they are talking about, because history takes a long time for us to reach.”— George W. Bush, Fox News Sunday, Feb10, 2008.

"Look, everybody’s trying to write the history of this administration even before it’s over. I’m reading about George Washington still. My attitude is, if they’re still analyzing No. 1, 43 ought not to worry about it, and just do what he thinks is right, make the tough choices necessary."--George W. Bush

Karl Rove, Chief Chearleader (in no small part because he wrote the playbook), summed up the we-don't-care-how-bad-it-looks soundbite in his own words in 2007: "...However, I believe history will provide a more clear-eyed verdict on this president’s leadership than the anger of current critics would suggest... President Bush will be seen as a compassionate leader who used America’s power for good."

How do they continue to make the case that, notwithstanding the mountains of evidence to the contrary, we are overlooking their successes? Simple. They misstate the facts on which they will be judged. The strategy seems surefire: the deluge of false facts will surely muddy up the history books enough that no future judges can be too hard on them.

What may confuse the judges of the future? Consider:

September 11 "came out of nowhere," ignoring the memo weeks prior titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."

The claims that the Taliban was eliminated in just a few short weeks.

The "Mission Accomplished" banner was not their doing-- it was done at the request of the Navy, not the White House.

The WMD intelligence? Faulty, but not their fault.

The cost of the war? Try to forget the pre-war predictions that it would total a few billion dollars, instead of the few trillion it has turned into.

Billions of dollars were misplaced in Iraq? The administration has no comment.

Greeted as liberators? Grateful to our presence in Iraq? Throwing shoes at our President is a sign they are a lot freer in Iraq, says Laura Bush.

With all due respect to our future historians, Bush should be judged today, using the unaltered facts. He deserves to be remembered for the calamitous outcome of the 43rd Presidency. Like the 98% of historians surveyed who rated Bush's presidency as a "failure," like the 61% of them who rate him as the worst president ever, we do not need a crystal ball to tell us how to judge this president.