I don’t have a problem that we’re dedicating the George W. Bush Presidential Center today. SMU benefits. We get a cool new library, museum and archive. Who is against such things?
My problem is with — gee, who can give voice to the attitude that is causing this gnawing pain in my gut?
Oh, hello, Steve Blow:
[Takes long, deep breath. Tries not to seek out puppies to punch.]
Right. Let’s trust that process. Let’s not, more than a decade after going to war and more than four years after his presidency ended, ask a newspaper to be a part of that process.
Let me try to take that advice. [Closes eyes.] Kumbaya, my Lord! Kum-ba-ya!
Sorry, just doesn’t feel right. There’s something about the disparity here between how we treat someone like Jimmy Carter — a failed president who nevertheless is a man of great works of compassion post-presidency — and Neighbor George, a man whose obvious compassion should for some reason blind me to the horrific choices he made as president.
According to this editorial, today marks the next chapter of our love affair with the Bushes. According to this story, experts tell me that, don’t you worry, eventually we’ll get to talking more openly and honestly about Iraq. In, say, 50 years or so.
So I am instead to take at face value the Bush Center’s postscript on the Iraq war:
Weird! Because just a few weeks ago I read a portrait of Iraq today that painted a far different picture, from someone who was there when the invasion began a decade ago and who recently returned:
But … takin’ out terrorism? Trust the process? Twirling toward freedom? No? It continues:
This is not a unique occurrence. Dozens were killed this week too. Six bombs went off last week, killing 42.
So, go ahead and celebrate the pretty building. Post your photos on Instagram. Just don’t give me this bullshit about how we need to hurry and have fun before the History Grump visits in 50 years and declares the Bush legacy to be one of destroying a fragile nation to further his cabinet’s pathological right-wing paranoia. That history is being written daily, in the blood of innocents.
Retweets
Too late!
Historians, WH Reporters: Press Shouldn't "Whitewash" Bush Record In Library Reports mm4a.org/14S28ix
— JoeStrupp (@JoeStrupp) April 25, 2013Now, this is the sort of Bush Center reporting I can get behind.
Troy Aikman with unidentified, pocket-size hottie #XPresidents @ George W. Bush Presidential Center instagram.com/p/Yh5BQEBoIy/
— Tim Rogers (@timmytyper) April 25, 2013We have pulled out of Iraq, but the idea our invasion didn't destroy the country is being proven wrong every day.
