As he leaves the White House at the end of his second term, the President has a poll rating of only 23 per cent, and is widely disliked and even despised. His foreign policy has been judged a failure, especially in view of the long, painful, costly war that he declared, which is still not over.
He doesn’t get on with his own party’s presidential candidate, who is clearly distancing himself, and had lost many of his closest friends and staff to scandals and forced resignations. The New Republic, a hugely influential political magazine, writes that his historical reputation will be as bad as that of President Harding, the disastrous president of the Great Depression.
I am writing, of course, about Harry S Truman, generally regarded today as one of the greatest of all the 43 presidents, and the man who set the United States on the course that ended decades later in the defeat of Communism.
Even as someone who supports Bush, particularly his foreign policy, I’m not sure I’m ready to place Bush among the greatest of Presidents. He’s been mediocre on the whole, but even with that being said comparisons of Bush to Truman (cited as both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as one of their favorite Presidents) are apt.
For all his faults, Bush does has the rare quality of leadership that has seen him sticking to the policies he feels are best for this country even in the face of low public approval ratings and a withering barrage of media criticism. Bush has done what he’s done not for the short-term approval of the masses but rather for the long-term interests of the country as a whole. Contrast this with someone like Bill Clinton, famously enamored with public opinion polls, who always seemed to lead by taking the path of least resistance. Or, put another way, the path that would cause the least amount of criticism.
There is a reason this country is not a direct democracy with every single bill, act and amendment being voted on by the entire country, and that reason is because the whims of the mob do not usually result in good decisions. Leadership means making tough decisions even if they happen to be unpopular.
Bush has that sort of leadership, and no amount of hatred for the man can take that away from him.