Peter Brookes gives a run-down of it all, while a sample will do to cause our local liberals to have conniption fits:
US-India relations are better than ever due to Bush administration efforts. Even Pakistan is doing a better job recently in fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda in its border areas with Afghanistan.
Today, Afghanistan is a lot better off: more than 30 million Afghans no longer labor under terrorist Taliban rule. Healthcare access is up; child mortality is down. Six million kids go to school, including nearly 2 million girls who would not otherwise be allowed to.
In Europe, the Bush administration led a charge for NATO expansion, bringing seven former Warsaw Pact enemies into the democratic transatlantic alliance.
The Bush White House also oversaw Kosovo’s transition to independence from Serbia, helping to start to close a chapter in the Balkan’s long, bloody history.
In the Middle East, Lebanon no longer labors under the yoke of Syrian domination, which ended its occupation after almost 30 years. In Iraq, nearly 30 million people are no longer subject to Saddam Hussein’s tyranny.
The surge of American troops into Iraq has left al Qaeda there battered, bewildered and in retreat in what Osama bin Laden said would be the decisive battle in its global jihad. While still dangerous, al Qaeda has suffered a stinging blow.
In Latin America, US ally Colombia has prospered under Washington’s “Plan Colombia,” a counter-drug and -terrorism program. The narco-terrorist group FARC is reeling from the pressure applied to it by Bogota – with U.S. assistance.
Obama does have the hard task of winding up Iraq and securing final victory in Afghanistan, but if he merely carries forward President Bush’s foreign and security policies, then the United States – and the world – will reap massive benefits. Obama’s apparent desire to open direct talks with Hamas (as if one should open up direct talks with the Gestapo, or the Mafia) is worrisome, but to be expected in a liberal, Democratic Administration. Hopefully, such things will wind up no more than kook left window dressing on what is really no more than Bush, Continued in our policies abroad.
To be sure, President Bush leaves office a man disliked by many, reviled by some – and deeply loved by those of us who, perhaps, have taken the time to see what a burden he’s been under especially since 9/11. For us, the end of the Bush era is a sad time – we’re losing a President we can count on, and we’re getting a President who is an unknown quantity. Hopefully Obama will work out ok, but we suspect that within a very few months we’ll all be longing for the crisp, decisive nature of Bush policy.
For now, there isn’t much left to be said – those who hate President Bush will go on hating him simply because they are afraid to rethink their views. Only by the very grace of God can a person who has done wrong willingly come to the admission of error, and be willing to acknowledge such errors in public. Those of us who admire the President will continue to do so – and won’t have anything nagging at our conscience. President Bush did what he thought was best; he made some errors; we backed him because he was mostly doing the exact right thing, while the errors were understandable in the context of the time.
Here is where we’re supposed to say that our sights are to be set on the future – but Christians know better than that; now, like all times, is the time to look at the problems of today and deal with them as best we can. Yesterday can’t be mended, tomorrow might never come. As the Obama Presidency starts to unfold, we’ll deal with it day by day – we (meaning the overall conservative movement) will advise, admonish and, at times, pull our hair out in frustration, but we must never fall in to the poisonous hatred the left has about President Bush. Obama is just a man, and he won’t be there forever – this, too, shall pass…and one day it will be liberals writing about Obama as we conservatives prepare for our guy (or gal, as the case may be) to take office.
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