For whatever his mistakes, Bush was fundamentally correct.

obama-bush--10-2-14

Listen To You Tell Me Texas Friday 10/3/14

Download

Even though it’s truly not who he is, one cannot help but wonder if President George W. Bush is enjoying a moment of Schadenfreude – an interlude of guilty pleasure attendant to watching his successor squirm.

When President Bush left office, he left behind a relatively stable situation in Iraq and a legacy of having taken action – however imperfect – to confront Islamic extremism on its home turf and on American terms.

He did so at considerable personal and political expense. By this point in his second term, President Bush’s approval ratings were in the tank and a change of party in the White House was all but inevitable.

Barack Obama won the presidency largely on the premise that George W. Bush was a “cowboy” who started an unnecessary war.

The guiding premise for Obama was then and is now that if America would stop overreacting to Islamic jihadism, Islamic jihadis would stop overreacting to us. This is a near constant among far-left liberals. They see America not as the beacon of hope for the world and the defender of freedom of last resort. Hard left liberals see American strength as provocative. Thus can be explained bombs in the World Trade Center parking garage, truck bombs at Marine barracks in Beirut, attacks on U.S. embassies, the bombing attack of a U.S. Naval vessel and, ultimately, the use of U.S. commercial airliners as cruise missiles against major U.S. cities.

Events now unfolding put the lie to this narrative.

Beginning with a speech in Cairo in 2009, the president embarked on what many came to call an “apology tour.” In op-eds and in speeches before audiences at home and abroad, he was quick to point out America’s flaws and lay blame for the world’s problems at America’s feet.

And whenever he found himself in a tight rhetorical spot, he particularly blamed George W. Bush.

Given the events of 2011 through today –events that have included evacuation of all U.S. military personnel from Iraq, the murder of a U.S. ambassador, the video beheadings of two American journalists and terrorist annexation of land in Iraq and Syria greater in area than that of Great Britain – it is now apparent that for whatever mistakes George W. Bush may have made, those mistakes can now be seen in the aggregate as an imperfect answer to a perfectly understood problem.

Visit the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, read the quotes on the walls, and you will come to understand that President Bush saw 9/11 as a signal event in a growing and dangerous clash between civilizations.

If Barack Obama were open to learning, he would be realizing now that America is not the problem. It is the perception of American weakness that is the problem.

If he were to be honest, President Obama would admit that for whatever mistakes he made, Bush’s fundamental premise was sound.

Islamic jihadis will continue visiting death and chaos upon the West until either the jihadis are triumphant or until the West gathers the will and marshals the means to stop them.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

You may also like...

4 Responses

  1. pk says:

    No matter the point of view, the USA elected Obama on the strength of his ‘magnificent rhetoric’ Obama’s great personality & his personality & smile.
    Obama was even given the World Peace prize upon his election, something no one else with zero accomplishment had been given.
    My weren’t we enamored of this “new Messiah”.
    If you recall” the tides will lower, the wrongs would be fixed & the Blacks & whites would be at peace…..blah,blah.”
    No one would listen to anyone saying” you are just prejudiced….’
    Thus was any criticism silenced for 6 years.
    It was said that the USA would have to learn the “hard way because NO one would listen”.
    We are not done learning yet & with Obama’s boldness it has not finished coming out.

    No one will read “Rules for Radicals” or buy a K@r@n in the bookstore or then TV anchors never would stop asking” why”.????

    I guess no one really cares…….they just like to conjecture endlessly without any solution in mind.

  2. Linda E. Montrose says:

    Yes, Bush had his faults, like border control and such. But he is an AMERICAN and had American freedom in mind when he struck back for 911. Obama is neither an American nor does he have American freedom at heart. This is an inconvient truth. Just as the fact that obama never had anything on his mind but bringing down America. People tried to warn others about this and we were labelled racist. Race had nothing to do with it except in the liberal’s eyes, who at every turn before and during the obama rein has continually pulled out that worn out race card. It didn’t matter what FACTS were put out there about obama, the liberals pulled the ole race card and people backed off. Now we are reaping the consequences for our inaction on following through on ferreting out the truth about obama, who literally sprang from nowhere! The question is: Has our inaction fallen into the hands of the liberals, causing the total destruction of the USA or will it be the tool used to bring back America and make her better than before? You know it is up to us…WE, THE PEOPLE for which ever comes to pass!

  3. pk says:

    Boy, Linda, you have more trust in what is left of the USA than I do. Obama & people like him have destroyed many of our remedies to fix the damage they have done.
    Purposely the Supreme Court has been neutered. Purposely the Congress has ‘nuclear options” to thwart purposes that are not wanted by the opposition. Gerymandering has dissolved certain majorities. Everyone yelps about the media twisting agenda driven news or leaving out relevant facts in current news. The 1st amendment is so misapplied that it becomes a question to whether even matters. Minorities with small amount of group members decide questions for the majority of USA on matters that are hotly contested the other way. ACLU sues constantly to get things out of things that have been always acceptable in our culture for 150 years.
    Hmmmm.
    I wonder if I will ever find ME or my friends in here again.
    Too sad.

  4. R. Eagleman says:

    In my view, pk & Linda are completely on target. Both are listening to their brains and previous experiences with this president. However, Linda is also using another vital organ, her heart, in hopes that the severe devastation which this administration has wreaked on our country will wake up the American electorate. If one wanted to convert our representative republic into a banana republic, I do not know how the tactics would be much different than what we are witnessing from this administration. My heart tells me that there are still enough voters who love this country and the freedom and opportunity that it represents, but my brain keeps reminding me that time is running out for us to turn this ship around. If there is not a mandate for change this November and in 2016, our children and grandchildren will deservedly be spitting on our graves. Thank you, Paul and KTBB for giving us this forum to express our feelings and frustrations.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *