Bush Booed

The new tone in Washington has escaped many on the left. In his last few moments of his Presidency George W. Bush was booed and subjected to a rendition of “Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye” as if he were a baseball pitcher getting pulled after a good shelling.
http://www.wjno.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=244038&article=4878923

He deserved better. President Bush went to Washington eight years ago with a history of bipartisanship and reaching out to the other side of the aisle as Governor of Texas. Even after the Florida recount debacle and catcalls about him being an illegitimate President he naively tried to bring the same spirit of teamwork in Washington. Early in his first term he invited Sen. Kennedy over for movies and let him write an education bill. Conservatives could see the folly in this strategery, but then we were hoping Bush was a fellow Conservative.

We had seen how the left cost George HW Bush a second term when congressional Democrats wrote a budget deal that included tax increases. When the President signed it they screeched like stuck pigs about how he broke his “no new taxes” pledge. This trap caused his 90%+ approval rating after the first Iraq War to evaporate bringing us the Clinton years. It’s unfathomable how George W. Bush didn’t learn from such recent history and then repeated it.

The angry left in this country has become Terrell Owens: when they win they do an end zone dance and taunt the loser. When things go wrong they point fingers and make demands. Loudly. If the country is a team those who jeered The President are the cancers in the locker room.

The Bush Presidency was a failure in the sense that he didn’t defend himself. He has two qualities that aren’t assets in Washington: he was too nice and too inarticulate to counter attacks on his character and policies. President Bush made mistakes but handled himself with class and composure until the end of his Presidency. Even the far left should give him credit for that.