Consequential times and presidencies are often bitterly contested, partly because so much is at stake. A recent news article put it this way, "Few presidents had as many challenges arise during their eight years, had as many tough calls to make in such a partisan-charged environment, or had to act in the face of such hostile media and elite opinion"
Although there were legitimate policy alternatives to President Bush's responses to the 9/11 attacks, unfortunately the loudest voices of dissent (personal attacks) drowned them out from public discourse. President Bush--for better or worse--did what he thought was best. History as seen through the lens of several decades will be the ultimate judge. We think most people can agree that he did not follow opinion polls when making decisions.
Perhaps former President Bill Clinton said it best when he was making a speech on June 3, 2004 to promote his memoir (the whole speech is worth listening to --he's a fascinating speaker-- or you can just skip ahead to the part we quote below):
"If you don't support president Bush--if you go back and read what he said in the campaign--he's just doing what he said he would do--and you've got to give him credit for that. You don't have to say he's a bad person if you don't support him. You should say, "I think he's wrong and here's why" and if you do support him, you should say not those of us who don't are bad people, but you think we're wrong and why. Because this is a great enterprise and no one has the whole truth. We're struggling to create a new reality."
Thank you President Bush for acting out of belief and principles instead of political expediency. In many ways we believe history will judge you kindly.
