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Bushies Focus on Legacy
December 09, 2008 9:19 AM
ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: The band of loyalists President Bush brought with him to the White House has a new project these days: Working on the legacy the president himself likes to say he doesn’t care about.
The buzz around this got an extra boost last week when Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard reported a tidbit about former Bush aides -- including Karl Rove and Karen Hughes -- meeting regularly at the White House, in what he called a “Bush legacy project” that is “looking at how to sort of roll out the President's legacy.”
An offshoot of this was on display in Sunday’s Austin American-Statesman, in an interesting piece by Ken Herman -- who has covered George W. Bush closely longer than probably any other journalist in the country, going back to his State House days in Texas.
One theme: The polarized politics of the ’90s -- followed by the famously contentious recount -- made it impossible for President Bush to really change the tone in Washington, as he promised to do as president.
“The political atmosphere was toxic from the beginning," says Mark McKinnon. “It was different because of the recount. It was different even before he was sworn in than we thought it would be.”
Karl Rove promises to “name names” to help make that point, in his forthcoming book: "I've got behind-the-scenes episodes that are going to show how unreceiving they [the president’s political adversaries] were of this man as president of the United States," Rove tells Herman: "I'm going to name names and show examples."
Another part of the “project” is unearthed Tuesday by Peter Nicholas of the Los Angeles Times, who has obtained White House talking points called “Speech Topper on the Bush Record.
The two-page document, which Nicholas says has been sent to Cabinet officials and other high-ranking administration officials, “presents the Bush record as an unalloyed success,” Nicholas writes.
“The talking points state that Bush ‘kept the American people safe’ after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and maintained ‘the honor and the dignity of his office,’ ” he writes. “It mentions none of the episodes that detractors say have marred his presidency: the collapse of the housing market and major financial services companies, the flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina or the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.”
An interesting counter to all of this comes from President Bush himself. Here’s what he told ABC’s Charlie Gibson on the subject of legacies, in an interview last week:
“I don't spend a lot of time really worrying about short-term history. I guess I don't worry about long-term history, either, since I'm not going to be around to read it -- [laughter] -- but, look, in this job you just do what you can. The thing that's important for me is to get home and look in that mirror and say, I did not compromise my principles. And I didn't. I made tough calls.”
December 9, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (36)
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Bush will go down in history as the worst president this country has ever had!
Bush makes Carter look like a angel.
Posted by: bubbabear200 | Dec 9, 2008 9:40:05 AM
I think his best line was his opening one where he said "welcome to my hanging."
Posted by: Jenny Rome Ga | Dec 9, 2008 9:41:33 AM
I think his best line was his opening one where he said "welcome to my hanging " at the unveiling of his official portrit.
Posted by: Jenny Rome Ga | Dec 9, 2008 9:44:48 AM
Like putting lipstick on a pig. You made your bed, Bush, now reap the whirlwind.
Posted by: ben | Dec 9, 2008 9:54:48 AM
Legacy?
What about Iraq War, Katrina, $4.00 gas prices, Civil Liberties of Americans, prisoners torture, borrowing money from China and the financial collapse on Wall Street?
Need, I say more!!!
Posted by: sisterdearest09 | Dec 9, 2008 9:55:07 AM
Only time will tell if Bush's decisions were good or bad, but he does have one thing going for him. The guy who is following him is already shaping up to be in strong contention with Jimmy Carter as the worst president in modern US history.
Posted by: howwouldiknow | Dec 9, 2008 10:01:51 AM
Good riddance "W"... hopefully, America will be blessed and we never hear from you again!
Posted by: Sandi | Dec 9, 2008 10:05:30 AM
Note to 'howwouldiknow'... You must be one of the idiots that voted for 'W"! Obama will inherit the worst economy since the Great Depression - created by your wonderful, stupid "W" - not to mention 2 wars and so forth. No one in our lifetime will ever surpass "W" on being the WORST president!
Posted by: Sandi | Dec 9, 2008 10:09:35 AM
Bush legacy? That's easy: FAILURE!
Posted by: hang | Dec 9, 2008 10:10:19 AM
Sandi : And you must be one of the idiots who don't understand how our economy or government works, and thus you were stupid enough to support Obama. The president does not get a vote on laws, but Obama did.. guess where he sided?
Sorry, your messiah is well on his way towards catching Carter as the worst president in modern US history.
Posted by: howwouldiknow | Dec 9, 2008 10:16:48 AM
howwouldiknow:
"Only time will tell!!"
What is Bush cooking now which will show up later?? Nothing is going to tell anything.
The entire world knows it, he really screwed up 8 years of his leadership.
Posted by: FM | Dec 9, 2008 10:28:04 AM
Bush should be arrested and tried for crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Jack Armstrong | Dec 9, 2008 10:28:17 AM
At the end of eight years we have seen out of control spending, more big dysfunctional government (FEMA), corruption even the Democrats couldn’t match, poking their nose into matters that should be resolved on a state level, handing billions of tax payer dollars over to the Pharmaceutical Ind. by not negotiating Medicare drugs, wanting to tax our income we pay for health insurance, pandering to the extreme right religious groups for more laws and I could go on and on. Does that sound like conservative values? What scares me are the things we don’t know about yet, they surely will not be in favor of the working person or taxpayer! What a legacy!
Posted by: rickyt1234 | Dec 9, 2008 10:43:06 AM
"the honor and the dignity of his office"
Up is down. Black is white. War is peace.
Rove just signed a $1.5 million book deal. Your Republic is long gone.
Posted by: dragon | Dec 9, 2008 10:52:06 AM
Thanks for putting the world back 50 years GW-you robbed this country blind. You will go down in history as a tyrant, and one who tried to pardon himself and his dirty henchmen from heinous crimes against humanity. You are comparable with hitler, and you follow in the footsteps of your dirty nazi-funding family. The truth about your legacy has yet to be told sir-
Posted by: tehevo | Dec 9, 2008 11:04:25 AM
How stupid people are. Of course, Bush has been a great President - and always will be. Arrogance and ignorance do not go together.
Posted by: Jane | Dec 9, 2008 11:07:14 AM
bush and anybody that voted for this guy twice are morons.
Posted by: Debra | Dec 9, 2008 11:07:51 AM
He was doomed by a toxic atmosphere? That simply does not agree with well documented reality. He received Congressional support unprecedented in the modern era in the wake of 9/11, with nary the need for a veto. For over two years he got absolutely anything he asked for from Congress - hell the whole world was lined up supporting him. More than any president in my lifetime he could do anything. And he CHOSE to squander it on an ineptly run from day one war in Iraq.
Your legacy is set Mr. Bush.
Posted by: jhw539 | Dec 9, 2008 11:32:08 AM
Bush Legacy: Total Fatalities Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4,191 Operation Enduring Freedom: 622 (Updated December 9, 2008)
Posted by: newz4i | Dec 9, 2008 11:33:56 AM
Isn't it sad that these loyal Bushies have to work so hard to manufacture a legacy? The article mentions the polarized politics of the 90's making it difficult for Mr. Bush to make a difference. What an odd assertion considering that Mr. Rove and the administration worked so hard to magnify the hostility and division between the parties, a tactic to keep Congress out of the president's way. Mr. Bush's legacy will be the disastrous Iraq war, epic deficits, a failed economy and a dark web of secret agendas.
Posted by: DaveM | Dec 9, 2008 11:43:47 AM
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