With Legacy in Mind, Bush Reassesses His AgendaBy Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 28, 2007; Page A03As he addresses a conference on climate change this morning, President Bush will face not only a crowd of skeptics but the press of time. For nearly seven years, he invested little personal energy in the challenge of global warming. Now, with the end in sight, he has called the biggest nations of the world together to press for a plan by the end of next year.
This has been a week when Bush seems to be checking boxes on the legacy list. He opened the week at the United Nations in New York, where he tried to rally support for his Middle East peace initiative and insisted his vision of a new Palestinian state is still "achievable" before the end of his presidency. And he pressed for more U.N. action against Iran, acutely aware he has less than 16 months left to stop Tehran's nuclear program.
Success in any of these areas would amount to a singular achievement and, in the view of advisers, could help rewrite Bush's place in history.
Yah think?
No president wants to be remembered as the author of an ill-fated war and, while Iraq certainly will be at the core of the Bush administration's record, advisers hope to broaden the picture. Yet analysts said the hour is late to resolve the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict on his watch, critics doubt his sincerity on climate change, and Iran remains as intransigent as ever.
And the Jews don't want to be remembered as victims of the holocaust...And the Native-Americans don't want to be remembered as victims of Manifest Destiny....And Paris Hilton doesn't want to be remembered as a rich slut, ok maybe that last one but the other two.
"The clock is ticking, and there are certain things you want to accomplish before you go out the door," said Ron Kaufman, who was White House political director for President George H.W. Bush. "While most of these things are not new to his agenda, there may be a bit of a new urgency given the time. . . . No president wants to leave something on the table if they can get it done."
Ok, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, this came from the Post but I've seen the same peice on the cover of Newsweek, they're deludeding themselves if they argue that Bush will make the top 20,and I'm being generous here. This country was built on an idea. The idea that that all men are created equal, the idea that we have judical rights, the idea that we don't mind what your religion is just not in the public square endorsed by the Government, the idea that we don't want to fight but we will to protect our ideas. These are shattered. No one was discussing torture before Bush,now we torture, now we invade as many countries as we feel like, now the Constitution doesn't mean crap. The irony of all this legacy stuff is that publications like the Post have noted two term presidents are at least 55 in their approval ratings. Bush is in the teens. He has company, there's Grant's two terms. That's why he wrote his memoirs, to reestablish his reputation. The legacy game needs to stop, he never cared for historians who are alive, he wants the 22nd century historian to judge him. He doesn't trust anyone to write about him. He could live to 100 and still scoff that historians are too liberal to write about him. He has been effectively repudiated by the 2006 elections. He is a lame duck president now. He has a "legacy", its just not the one he wanted.