What should Bush do now?

Tue, 01/13/2009 - 3:24pm

My prolific colleague Josh has penned a good, earnest FP List on what outgoing decider-in-chief George W. Bush should do now that he is exiting office next week. With an economy in shambles, two wars unresolved, and al Qaeda's top leaders still at large, No. 43 is leaving behind a mixed legacy at best. No doubt Bush is eager to rebrand himself in the fashion of his predecessors, and we're here to help him do it.

Here's the blog version, for those of you in a hurry:

  • Keep Pushing the Freedom Agenda
  • Get Immigration Reform Passed
  • Get the Development Wonks and the Church Folk on the Same Page
  • Save Sudan
  • Bring America's Pastime to the World

I know that some of you out there would love to add "stand trial for war crimes" or somesuch to this list, but what we were trying to do was make a a serious, honest effort at assessing W.'s strengths, not mock the guy or kick him on his way out the door. Plenty of other folks will be doing that.

So, dear readers: Please chime in. What other missions should Bush undertake where he can really add value? Ending malaria? Bringing clean drinking water to Malawi? Slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS? Weigh in below, or drop us a line.

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

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I think he's a shoo-in for

by GH on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 5:16pm

I think he's a shoo-in for MLB commish. It's a perfect fit: he gets to be in charge of something, and he gets to retire into graceful obscurity in a position that's hard to mess up.

How Quickly We Forgive (Rich, White guys)

by wcarbone on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 5:49pm

Ok, I understand that the goal of this post was to be "productive." Still though, the post is representative of the overall attitude of the American media and much of the electorate to say "Well, yeah, that guy started a few wars that cost thousands of lives, trillions of dollars, tarnished the U.S.'s rep the world over, was hell-bent on an ultra-con religious right agenda, filled his cabinet with cronies, made a mockery of the judicial system, violated international laws by creating prisons and torture centers throughout the world in which people don't have Habeus Corpus, but hey, you know, he's really not a bad guy, so let's just move on." Give me a break!

NPR has already run several humanizing pieces about the family cat and what the Bushes ate for Christmas dinner, and everyone giggled as he ribbed the press corps like Chris Farley in "Tommy Boy" on his way out yesterday. Nonetheless, this guy did all this stuff. Do we really just sweep it under the rug and add him to the mantle of "great men" because he held the title of President? If we do, we might want to all think twice next time we snicker at Russia when they vote Stalin one of their country's "Most Important" whatevers because it's the same instinct that we're following.

Maybe he shouldn't stand trial for warcrimes but for God's sake let's hold him accountable for something!

Not at all

by Joshua Keating on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 6:23pm
This is certainly not a defense or an attempt to "add him to the mantle of "great men."" But like it or not, he's still going to be on the scene for a while and we just think he should be doing something useful with his time.

Projects he started

by Lure D. Lou on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 7:04pm

1. Liberia - He kicked out Charles Taylor....let him get engaged with a country that is barely a basket case. No one else is going to care even a whit.
2. Mexico - Remember his initial campaign promise to make Mexico a priority...well dude, bienvenido to one helluva mess along the border.
3. Democracy promotion - Fine, but through USAID not USMC.

Everyone in America is entitled to a second or even third or fourth act (except Bernie Madoff and about 500 CEOs). Very few of the punditocrary who criticize Bush could have done better because most people are as limited as he is. (That was his appeal, remember?) Luck and circumstance are big factors in any person's life so now Bush has a chance at a little redemption. If we are not going to put him on trial then let's indeed put him to work. (Just for the record I would prefer a trial.)

Probably better if, like

by James Los Angeles on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 9:54am

Probably better if, like Richard Nixon before him, he slinks away and lives out his life anonymously and out of sight and hearing, leaving the adults to try to repair the wreckage of his ignonimous legacy. Until the trial. There's just nothing good you can say about it. Not a single success. Okay, yeah, I'll give you Liberia. That's about it.