Bush was a wimp. No not that one...

I've written here before about the Bush's, 41 and 43. Bush 41 was unfairly castigated as a wimp, anyone care to look up the footage of him being pulled out of the Pacific? But maybe it was 43 who was the real wimp.

Let me explain.

Throughout his two terms, W was constantly on the defensive. This was more true in the 2nd term than the first. I consoled myself with the notion that in the scope of history W's record would speak for itself. I think it does, and I think his reputation is improving.

Problem is, W was an establishment guy and when he took office in 2001 the GOP has been on teh defensive for five years, see 'Medi-scare'. Bush's brain, Karl Rove countered Dem scare tactics by recruiting locally known candidates and not doing anything to rock the boat too much. It worked, but it was defensive in nature.  This is best illustrated by the 2003 tax cut. Bush has just won a stunning victory overthrowing Saddam Hussein. He should be going for the political jugular here. Instead he reduced marginal rates by a few points here and there. Oh wow.

This defensive stance was Bush's biggest political mistake. During the dark days of the battle for Iraq, 2005-2006 the administration would never fight back. They kept repeating the mantra, 'as the Iraqi Army stands up, we'll stand down' and kept making rational arguments about foreign policy, consequences if we leave Iraq (which have been proven correct, btw).The Dems just kept saying 'Bush lied, people died' etc.

Bush, Rove, and myself even should have fought back by the Dems rules, 'Why do you want al-Qaeda to win?' should have been out reply.'Why do you want to lose the war?'

Bush was too defensive, and in retrospect that makes HIM seem like a wimp.