George W. Bush: Hero or villain?

Many people have strong opinions about the 43^th President of the United States, George W. Bush. I think he is underestimated (not misunderestimated, as he mistakenly referred to the word one time) because people have knee-jerk reactions to any Republicans sometimes. This article will show 3 ways that Bush did a great job while he was President of the United States.

First, in May 2001, he created the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. The fund was financed by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Anything that prolongs life is invaluable, because each day that we live on Earth is a day that we can make a contribution to the betterment of the life of another individual. Or we could even just help ourselves become a better person and the value of that is priceless. This is what being a compassionate conservative is all about.

Of course, a far bigger event happened in 2001, the attack of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda on the Twin Towers in New York. Bush handled this like a true leader. He remained calm. He has been criticized for sitting still for several minutes in the children’s classroom, saying nothing, when an official whispered into his ear what had just happened in Manhattan. I’m not sure if it would be preferable for a President to jump up, screaming, announcing that the world is going to end any minute. His response was reasoned, but fierce. The country was not attacked again by Al Qaeda in such a major way for the rest of Bush’s tenure. And President Obama also deserves credit for capturing bin Laden and killing him with the help of heroic Navy Seals.

A lot of people criticize Bush for mishandling the Iraq war. They say he lied to the country because his rationale for going into Iraq in the first place was because there were weapons of mass destruction. It was found later that these stockpiles were far lower in volume than had formerly been supposed. But as I wrote in another blog, America’s commitment to democracy is fierce. It might not technically be a democracy, but Bush (and many others) are firmly committed to the spreading of democratic ideals throughout the world. If Iraq becomes a successful democracy, George W. Bush should receive a lot of the credit. And I think that was the fundamental rationale for going into Iraq. The weapons of mass destruction issue, in the context of what happened on September 11, might have been the immediate catalyst, but there were other considerations as well.

Of course, President Bush made a lot of mistakes. He’s a human being. But he did a lot of good, as well. Any President does a variety of good and bad things while he is in office, but I think in Bush’s case, a strong case can be made for saying that Bush did far more right than he did wrong.