The Bush Legacy That Wasn’t

While anguishing about the various awful messes George Bush leaves behind, we might take a moment or two to feel grateful for the things he wanted to do but didn’t manage to inflict on this country and the world.

In this regard consider Social Security. One of his announced priorities when he was re-elected in 2004 was to “reform” the Social Security system—to partially privatize it. Even with a Republican-controlled Congress in the first two years of his second term, however, he failed to pull this off. The idea did get adopted by Italy and has now left a great many elderly Italians terrified about their futures. But we were spared.

And then there was the matter of Iran. He and his vice-presidential planning pal were clearly anxious to start another liberation venture there. But a host of leaks from saner minds within his administration helped stopped that—notably from the post-Rumsfeld Pentagon. Give Sy Hersh a bit of credit here as well.

Yes, the Bush presidency was a disaster. But in considering his legacy, let’s keep in mind that it could easily have been even more so.

Cartoon by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune