The true character of George W. Bush
On Sunday a personal friend who served in the military told me a story about former President George W. Bush. This personal anecdote reminds me that history may be kinder to the former President, despite the harsh treatment Bush received publicly.
It may be one of the best kept secrets of the Bush presidency, and it is a testament to the person who has been so vilified. Although history will be the ultimate judge on Bush and his decision to go to war, Bush took every step and misstep personally.
For each of the families of the over 4,000 US soldiers who died in the Iraq War, Bush wrote every family a personal letter. During his eight years, he met with one third of the soldiers’ families. According to my friend, Bush went out of his way, painstakingly, to ensure that this would not receive any media attention out of concern that his acts may seem less genuine and would also become politicized. Of course, like all the best kept secrets in the world, the secret was shared among military personnel who admired Bush’s character.
As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Perhaps a man’s character is like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing.” History will be the final arbiter of his service in office, but stories like these show a glimpse of a President who was greater in real life than his own caricature, the shadow of a President that was used too often to score political points.
Update: A reader just sent me this Washington Times article to verify the veracity of my friend’s account.
I did not always agree with Pres Bush but I always respected him. He is an honorable and good man and I think that history will show that. God bless him and his family.
I’ve always thought GW Bush to be a man of character. I respect and admire him. Thanks for writing this.
I saw a dvd of his faith a few years ago. The man is way better than what the media says.
Although I had my strong issues as a conservative with W: nicely said.
Yeah, I’m upset by most of his policies, but I still like him as a person.
He seems a genuinely nice person.
wow, thanks for the link Steve
He may be a nice guy, but he is and will be viewed as one of the worst Presidents ever. Ranks right up there with Harding.
I wonder if each letter was uniquely written, or even actually personally signed (rather than signed using an “autopen”).
Sure, President Bush seems like a genuinely nice guy. I think he’d be a good father. He’d probably be a great neighbor. But he was a terrible, terrible President, and the main reason is because he surrounded himself with terrible, terrible people… namely, Dick Cheney.
We “New Republicans” should not waste our time trying to sugarcoat the disastrous neo-conservative presidency of George Bush with this kind of propaganda. We should call it what it was: the grand failure of neo-conservatism.
<b>We must return to TRUE conservatism. NO BANK BAILOUTS. NO EMPIRE BUILDING. NO WORLD POLICE. NO INCOME TAX.</b>
He’s walked his talk and that is by far more than I can say of MOST of our political leaders today. I find that the “disagreements” I had with him usually tracked back to his placing too much trust in people who didn’t deserve it–either via their later betrayal or ineptitude. I keep him and his family in my prayers.
You have to be more then just a good person to be a good president.
I actually knew about this. He really is a great man, and I hope history is kinder to him than people are now. He wasn’t anywhere near as bad as they make him out to be. He kept our country safe and he held true to his values, two of the most difficult things to do as President.
Well said Elizabeth.
I very much agree with some of the above comments. Although I have disagreed with most of former Pres. Bush’s policies, I believe that he is a good guy trying his best but had people around him that had very different agendas
…..though he may act stupid, and liked to cultivate the image of a “regular guy”, this
frat boy turned president is anything but dumb. Yet his actions have painted him in a corner, and i really do believe he is sensitive to the perception history will judge him to be. If he had any true feelings about the loss of our fine service members, he’d have tried something different to mitigate the loss of life in the quagmire of his making.
With the clarity of hindsight, we can now debate Bush’s decisions one by one. He has taken his place in the ranks of history. There are many decisions that I agree with. But, there are others that I do not agree with at all. I believe that this will always be the case with any elected offical because the business of running this republic is complex and delicate.
In any given election it all comes down to a choice of two individuals in the end. I would not have trusted my family’s freedom and safety to Al Gore. John Kerry wasn’t the right man for the job either.
Thank you Steven for this story. It is good to be reminded of Bush’s basic decency and character. That is why I voted for him twice.
He is a good man and never compromised his character during his Presidency, in my mind that is a very noble characteristic. He has definitely made mistakes-who hasn’t-but he was never hesitant to take action (you can’t say that about many Presidents). The attack on 9/11 occurred when I was 10 years old and what I remember most is being frightened…VERY frightened. When he came on the TV and gave his speech, telling Americans he would protect them, I trusted him and I felt safe. I’ll always respect him for that. He believed strongly in national defense and to him America always came first. I could never support a candidate who doesn’t believe in strong national security or honoring our men and women in uniform. So thank you, President Bush! I hope that he will be remembered for his admirable character, ability to take action, and his protection of our homeland.
Look at the way Bush “left” the White House, versus the way he entered it. He was the very definition of graciousness.
And of cluelessness.
It’s no disgrace to be a lightweight. But we deserve better in a president. And our party deserved better in a leader.
Being a Christian does not automatically mean you are a good person. Too many excuse GWB by offering his Christian credentials. GWB’s character was that of an immature naughty child who managed to become president. (We can argue how he got their; it is probably the fault of the electorate and the minders who corrupted the Republican party’s ideals with their own narrow-minded objectives.) His Christianity might have stopped his drinking but, it did not promote his intellectual, nor emotional growth.
We don’t need a president with a perfect character. No human knows a man’s true mind. We need a very competant person who demonstrated a history of character. Only time will prove the electorate correct …or not.
I truly believe president GW BUsh is an awsome human being. History will judge him different then Liberal Media. Being president of this Great Nation his first job to protect American people and he did his Best. He’s Good Christian Man, Anyone can see right on his face he’s trust worthy human being. God Bless Him and God Bless his Family
Mr. President George Bush
Thanks for standing up to the the critisicm, for showing compassion, protecting the homeland, and leading by example.
We all forget the one before blew his wad on an intern and was involved in White Water, the current is yet to be proven.
We were attacked on September 11th, 2001. We were united as a country to defeat our enemies. The world supported us like never before (we were always the supporter). Then, W. was talked into Iraq. We are now divided. We have no world support. We have (more) generations of Islamic extremist lined up to kill us. We have nearly 5,000 of our finest dead in Iraq and tens of thousands of injured. No matter who fooled our President about Iraq, history will reflect this as a monumental mistake on HIS part. He sent our brave men and women into harms way- the Iraq war- on weak intelligence using 9/11 as his excuse.
We have to demand Republican leadership which is about real integrity. “Country before party!”
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