As one of his last acts of official loyalty to BushCo. Karl Rove has written a gushing, dripping editorial defending the Bush administration policies he helped cook up and implement and spin to a confusing muddle of facts and fiction, and attempts to claim that the Bush legacy will something historians will praise and hold up as an example of how to...
I can't do it. I can't sum up Rove's spectacular twaddle.
You just have to read it to for yourself, if you can stomach it :
I believe history will provide a more clear-eyed verdict on this president’s leadership than the anger of current critics would suggest.
President Bush will be viewed as a far-sighted leader who confronted the key test of the 21st century.
He will be judged as a man of moral clarity who put America on wartime footing in the dangerous struggle against radical Islamic terrorism.
Following the horrors of 9/11, this president changed American foreign policy by declaring terror sponsors responsible for the deeds of those they shelter, train, and fund. America, he said, will not wait until dangers fully materialize with attacks on our homeland before confronting those threats.
The president gave the nation new tools to defeat terrorism abroad and protect our citizens at home with the Patriot Act, foreign surveillance that works in the wireless age, a transformed intelligence community, and the Department of Homeland Security.
And this president saw the wisdom of removing terrorism’s cause by advocating the spread of democracy, especially in the Muslim world, where authoritarianism and repression have provided a potent growth medium for despair and anger aimed at the West. He recognized that democracy there makes us safer here.
President Bush will be seen as a compassionate leader who used America’s power for good.
History will see President Bush as a reformer who focused on modernizing important institutions.
He is concerned with fundamental change that will — among other goals — strengthen the ways our children are educated and health care is provided.
He will be seen as an innovative conservative thinker with a positive, optimistic agenda for action.
He will be recognized as a strong advocate of traditional values.
He advanced a culture of life where every child is protected and welcomed.
He supported traditional marriage when it came under attack from the courts. He sought to strengthen families and encourage personal responsibility.
The outcome in Iraq and Afghanistan will color how history views the president.
History’s concern is with final outcomes, not the missteps or advances of the moment. History will render a favorable verdict if the outcome in the Middle East is similar to what America saw after World War II.
Beyond his policies and actions, history will take the measure of the man.
I have known George W. Bush for nearly 34 years and have had the privilege of watching from nearby as history has placed its demands on him and our country. I know his humility and decency, his intelligence and thoughtfulness, his respect for every person he comes in contact with, his unwavering commitment to principle-based decision-making, and the quiet and compassionate hearts of the man and his graceful wife, Laura.
I have come to understand true leadership leans into the wind. It tackles big challenges with uncertain outcomes rather than taking on simple, sure tasks. It does what is right, regardless of what the latest poll or focus group says.
History demands much of America and its leaders and I am confident it will judge the 43rd president as a man more than worthy of the great office the American people twice entrusted to him.
There's a fat ton of 'maybes' riding on Rove's final declaration of how history will view President Bush, in decades or a century to come. So very many 'maybes'.
Go Here For The Full Rove Editorial From The National Review
