History will treat brave Bush kindly unlike vain Trump
SOMETIMES we never realise what we had until it’s gone.
And with the passing of President George HW Bush, America is now beginning to see despite rejecting him for a second term, few leaders achieved so much in such little time.
At the time he was kicked out of the White House a quarter-century ago, the 41st US leader had a terrible approval rating while scorned by opposition Democrats and many Republicans alike.
It’s true Bush lacked the political genius of his lionised predecessor Ronald Reagan or his silver-tongued successor Bill Clinton.
His record as president was mixed and his campaign for re-election to the Oval Office in 1992 was destroyed by his failure to convince voters he understood the economic and social problems they suffered.
But where Bush did succeed, he did so on a huge and often global scale.
He made history and much of that made the world a better place.
Although at the time not given credit, he handled a series of historic crises with competence and restraint, while dealing with the everyday conflicts and compromises of governing responsibly.
But foreign policy was Bush’s great strength, and of his worldly contributions, two stand out.
Firstly, the end of the Cold War and of the Soviet Union, far-reaching events, occurred on Bush’s watch.
They both had the ability to wreak havoc in the world but his handling was skilful and adept.
Bush saw the importance of giving Soviet reformers tacit support while not provoking their adversaries to act Bush’s funeral politics was a respectable profession, and he understood its obligations to everyone, not just the powerful, not only the rich but those far less fortunate from every walk of life.
It is difficult at the moment of his passing not to take note of the profound differences between his time in the White House and that of its current occupant, Donald Trump.
Beyond a desire to be president – Bush was more driven and ambitious than his modest personality often suggested – there is almost nothing in common between the two men.
Whereas one was gracious and modest, the other is arrogant and vain. One was prudent, the other brash. One dependable, the other unhinged.
Bush’s death should be a moment to remember a respectful political order when relations with allies were more cordial than combative and when George HW Bush government attracted
people of talent for whom public service offered a purpose higher than self-enrichment.
Bush, now more than ever, is rightly seen as one of the most underrated presidents in recent history.
He should be remembered for his many victories that posterity has shown to be the right decisions.
Bush had unparalleled courage and placed people above party politics.
Historians will almost certainly treat him more kindly than voters did. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be doing the same when the current incumbent of the White House meets his maker. against them. He almost single-handedly stagemanaged the creation of a new world order amid the collapse of communism, the fall of the
Berlin Wall and reunification of Germany.
Secondly, his decisions in 1990 and 1991 to protect Arab allies and drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait were brave and well-justified.
Both events shocked the world, and Bush calmly sat steering their outcome with a calmness that characterised most of his public life.
Sometimes people think politics is tawdry, today never more so.
But ask any world leader who met Bush and they will say he behaved at all times with truth and honesty.
Sure, he had opponents but never, they say, enemies. He made friends and never lost them.
By all accounts, Bush ensured