The paradox of George Herbert Walker Bush

To read Jon Meacham’s new biography of Bush 41 (“Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush”) is to realize how much politics has changed in 20 years, to understand why Jeb Bush is going nowhere in the presidential race and to marvel at GHWB’s admirable character – and fundamental cluelessness.

The first President Bush was an authentic member of the Greatest Generation. He enlisted after graduating from high school and was our nation’s youngest naval aviator in World War II. He was shot down by the Japanese in combat and barely escaped capture.

Forever after, he was a man in a hurry. He went through Yale in less than three years, while married and a father, but still able to play first base in varsity baseball. Instead of taking an easy berth on Wall Street, he became an independent oilman in Texas, where he made his own fortune.

He was rich and privileged by birth (what you call “shirts” he called “shirtings”). But he and his wife suffered the loss of a young daughter to leukemia. He took hard knocks in business and politics. Yes, he was born on third base, but he had real character.

He plunged into Texas politics, won a US House seat, lost a Senate race, was RNC chair under Nixon (and escaped Watergate taint), CIA director and then Reagan’s VP. As President, he ably navigated us through turbulent times, including the collapse of the Soviet Union and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. We could use some of his prudence, diplomatic skill and judgment today.

He’s an endearing character, a gentleman and a kind man. His life code: “Tell the truth. Don’t blame people. Be strong. Do your best. Try hard. Forgive. Stay the course.”

He could be uncommonly generous in politics: “You don’t kick a man when he’s down. You don’t revel in his demise. You don’t pile on in life.”

Bush was confounded by how politics changed in the 80s and 90s. He wasn’t comfortable with ideological politics; his instinct was to compromise, not confront. He couldn’t understand the burn-it-down politics of Newt Gingrich.

Yet, he had no problem siccing Lee Atwater on Michael Dukakis in 1988 with negative ads about Willy Horton and the Pledge of Allegiance. And he took instructions from an adviser who has done more than most anyone to shape today’s poisonous politics, Roger Ailes. (Who once stormed at Bush in a debate prep: “You look like a fucking fairy!”)

The best of Bush’s world – duty, honor, country, kindness and generosity of spirit – are lost in today’s politics. No wonder Jeb looks lost.

Yet, for all the good things there are to appreciate about GHWB, he was happy to use the ugly politics he bemoans to get power. And, once in the White House, his skill at international relations was overshadowed by an inability to grasp the trials and travails of people who didn’t grow up patrician and privileged.

Bush is an admirable man. He was a worthy public servant. But no amount of retrospective appreciation can acquit him of responsibility for what politics has become – and why his other son is unlikely to follow him and W into the White House.

 

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Gary Pearce

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The paradox of George Herbert Walker Bush

To read Jon Meacham’s new biography of Bush 41 (“Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush”) is to realize how much politics has changed in 20 years, to understand why Jeb Bush is going nowhere in the presidential race and to marvel at GHWB’s admirable character – and fundamental cluelessness.

The first President Bush was an authentic member of the Greatest Generation. He enlisted after graduating from high school and was our nation’s youngest naval aviator in World War II. He was shot down by the Japanese in combat and barely escaped capture.

Forever after, he was a man in a hurry. He went through Yale in less than three years, while married and a father, but still able to play first base in varsity baseball. Instead of taking an easy berth on Wall Street, he became an independent oilman in Texas, where he made his own fortune.

He was rich and privileged by birth (what you call “shirts” he called “shirtings”). But he and his wife suffered the loss of a young daughter to leukemia. He took hard knocks in business and politics. Yes, he was born on third base, but he had real character.

He plunged into Texas politics, won a US House seat, lost a Senate race, was RNC chair under Nixon (and escaped Watergate taint), CIA director and then Reagan’s VP. As President, he ably navigated us through turbulent times, including the collapse of the Soviet Union and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. We could use some of his prudence, diplomatic skill and judgment today.

He’s an endearing character, a gentleman and a kind man. His life code: “Tell the truth. Don’t blame people. Be strong. Do your best. Try hard. Forgive. Stay the course.”

He could be uncommonly generous in politics: “You don’t kick a man when he’s down. You don’t revel in his demise. You don’t pile on in life.”

Bush was confounded by how politics changed in the 80s and 90s. He wasn’t comfortable with ideological politics; his instinct was to compromise, not confront. He couldn’t understand the burn-it-down politics of Newt Gingrich.

Yet, he had no problem siccing Lee Atwater on Michael Dukakis in 1988 with negative ads about Willy Horton and the Pledge of Allegiance. And he took instructions from an adviser who has done more than most anyone to shape today’s poisonous politics, Roger Ailes. (Who once stormed at Bush in a debate prep: “You look like a fucking fairy!”)

The best of Bush’s world – duty, honor, country, kindness and generosity of spirit – are lost in today’s politics. No wonder Jeb looks lost.

Yet, for all the good things there are to appreciate about GHWB, he was happy to use the ugly politics he bemoans to get power. And, once in the White House, his skill at international relations was overshadowed by an inability to grasp the trials and travails of people who didn’t grow up patrician and privileged.

Bush is an admirable man. He was a worthy public servant. But no amount of retrospective appreciation can acquit him of responsibility for what politics has become – and why his other son is unlikely to follow him and W into the White House.

 

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Gary Pearce

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