A question was proposed lately: Why would I be proud of George W. Bush? The query was presented from the point of view of an allegedly rock-ribbed conservative, not a loopy, Huffington Post reading liberal. The anger was aimed at the "unjust" war and Bush's economic foibles. The writer, an otherwise intelligent chap, conveniently elides many of Bush's noteworthy achievements and, characteristically, hones in exclusively on the negatives. The question and the manner in which it was posed, in all seriousness, astounded me, especially in light of what we're dealing with now under the pall of the Obama Administration. Just off the top of my head, let's review the basics:
Why I am proud to have supported George W. Bush:
- Chief Justice John Roberts
- Justice Samuel Alito
- Signing the partial-birth abortion ban into law
- Restricting the flow of federal funds to providing abortions overseas
- Promoting abstinence policies at home and abroad and opposing nefarious UN population control initiatives
- Standing up to relentless pressure, even within his own party (McCain), to ease restrictions on destructive embryonic stem-cell research
- He is a deeply committed Christian and upright man who commands respect, irregardless of the occasional and inevitable disagreements. Bush was always immensely respectful toward the Holy Father and the current pope returned the favor by granting him an unprecedented audience last year in the Vatican Gardens. On the "nonnegotiables" the Holy See and the Bush Administration were pretty much in agreement down the line. As real conservatives will readily acknowledge, the greatest threat to our times is not whether or not the war in Iraq was just or the economic minutia surrounding the federal reserve. No, the greatest threat we face is a moral one, rooted in an existential nihilism and the looming reality of a post-Christian age. I lived in Europe. In Italy and Spain, I experienced a post-Christian culture. America stands apart from its European allies in that here, we are still an unapologetically religious nation. Former President Bush bolstered that image through his sincere witness to the Christian creed and, as a result, incurred the hatred and vitriol of many atheists, hippies, anarchists and Communists across the globe. As a cardinal working at the UN confided to the president of my alma mater: on the important moral issues of the day, the Bush Administration was the Vatican's fiercest ally at the UN. Pope John Paul II had this to say to President Bush: "I ... continue to follow with great appreciation your commitment to the promotion of moral values in American society, particularly with regard to respect for life and the family." And Pope Benedict XVI, addressing former Ambassador Glendon extolled "the efforts of so many of your fellow-citizens and government leaders to ensure legal protection for God's gift of life from conception to natural death, and the safeguarding of the institution of marriage, acknowledged as a stable union between a man and a woman, and that of the family." Some Americans in our movement, it seems, would be well-served in stepping out of their provincial prism to see the bigger picture. War and economics are important, but let's keep them in their proper place. Ok?
- Taking a firm martial response to radical Islamic terrorists after the malaise of the Clinton Administration, where we were routinely kicked around with impunity (Mogadishu, the African embassy bombings, the USS Cole attack, the Khobar Towers attack, etc.). And this is apart from the more controversial war in Iraq, which I still support, as I think most Iraqis are happy to be rid of Hussein. While an interesting debate rages about the wisdom of the invasion in retrospect, dismissive talk of the war as being "unjust" is jejune pablum. It reveals an alarming ignorance of asymmetrical warfare, twenty-first century realities and the true nature of the threat posed by the Baathist regime. Even as he grew more skeptical of the war's prospects, William F. Buckley said, "It would have been foolhardy to have done nothing, given what we knew to be true at the time." Hindsight is always 20/20. It's easy to look back and cast judgments. Watch the Bolton clips a few posts down for greater dilation of the topic.
- How about Bush keeping us safe for nearly eight years. Thank you Patriot Act. Sheesh, talk about ungrateful, sir.
These are the principle points. Bush screwed up on this and that, but more importantly, he held a line and took a stand regarding fundamentals in a critical time. While I have always been deeply critical of Bush's economic decisions and I recognize the need for new blood and a philosophical return to first principles in our Party, I'm not going to smugly pretend as though there is nothing about Bush's administration of which I can be proud. As a conservative, one would have to be pretty naive and uninformed, let alone churlish, to think otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment