George H.W. Bush, 1924-2018

I’m surprised at the sometimes vitriolic responses on social media to Mr. Bush’s passing, which is a little surprising to me. Don’t speak ill of the dead and all that, sure, civility, family, etc., but I think he and is legacy is being swept up by the polarization we’ve seen in U.S. politics over the last ten years or so.

To begin, Mr. Bush was an achiever, an accomplished man, which used to be a given when referring to U.S. Presidents, that they were the best and the brightest who could even hope to run for and win the Presidency. From there, a lot of luck and skill was needed to win the race, but anyone at the starting line needed to be a superbly qualified individual.

To me, the highlights speak volumes: Yale, Navy pilot in WWII, a succession of high-level government posts. There’s no denying the merit. It’s even more starkly defined by his idiot son’s funhouse mirror of a career. Whereas the elder was a war hero who got shot down but lived to fight and fly another day, his son was a draft-dodger whose political connections got him a cushy position in the Air National Guard, and even at that there are big questions whether he even fulfilled the requirements to avoid going to Vietnam. Whereas the elder played football and baseball at Yale, Junior was a dim-witted legacy student who was a literal cheerleader on the sidelines, watching the big boys play.

George H.W. Bush was not my cup of tea, I was frequently outraged when I read of his political decisions, but I figured that was par for the course, he was a Republican, I didn’t expect to agree with his worldview. The way the U.S. could and should project its power and interests was to him very different than it seemed to me, but what else did I think would happen with a former CIA head at the helm? I just figured he’d eventually get voted out of office and the Democrats would steer the ship back on course, no big deal.

But despite the different political tack, I never doubted Mr. Bush’s intentions or ability. His idealism might be ill-directed, but he had ideals, and the knowledge and skills to helm the ship, which was a refreshing change from the Reagan presidency. And to me, that’s the biggest reason I have some admiration for Mr. Bush, being that while I disagreed with his views, I never doubted his suitability for the job.

When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, I didn’t fret that we had a buffoon in charge, surrounded with a coterie of hangers-on who are at least distracted by the task of making their leader function, if they weren’t actually second-rate staff or worse by dint of being on that team in the first place. I felt that the best possible decisions would be taken, within the context of a former oil man being in charge, among other factors, but still. It’s exactly the opposite of the way I felt when Ronald Reagan was blabbering, unfocused, or when September 11 occurred on Dubya’s watch, and how I feel now with Putin pushing Ukraine around and Saudis dismembering their citizens on foreign soil, with the corrupt imbecile the U.S. elected in 2016 now in charge.

So yeah, to me, Mr. Bush was the last of the ‘good’ Republicans, a budget-slashing war hawk sure, but a competent reasonable man, which does not apply to the last couple fools the party foisted onto the U.S. citizenry.