It is surreal to think that today marks George W. Bush’s last day in office. For most mid-twentysomethings like myself, he is the only U.S. president we’ve gotten to know as we came of age and formed our outlook on life, politics and . . . well, just about everything else.

For good reasons and bad, he became a target of much our (not to mention others’) discontent and it is not without reason that he is leaving office with a 22 percent approval rating.

But as the final appraisals pour in from friends and foes alike, much of the analysis misses the point. The US presidency is still, arguably, the most powerful post in the world. He or she who commands it has enormous potential to change the world.

In that sense, the true measure of a presidency is not what the person in power did accomplish, but rather, what he or she did not accomplish.

In many ways, that is the root of the nation’s disappointment with George W. Bush. He leaves behind so much unifnished business - whether it be finishing the mission in Iraq, stabilizing the economy, fixing social security, revamping U.S. immigration policy, capturing Bin Laden, among others - that there really is very little that the average American can celebrate. The rare exception is seven years without a terrorist attack on US soil, but to families who lost their loved ones in Iraq, even that must feel like a pyrrhic victory.

I think Pres. Bush understands as much. As he acknowledged in his final press conference (see below), the threat of terrorism, the mission in Iraq and the economic crisis are far from solved. Granted, he believes strongly that he made strong progress in all three. Pundits will debate this and historians will ultimately pass judgement on it, he says. But whether right or wrong, he wants us to know that he always acted decisively and with his best intentions in mind. Above all else, he feels he deserves credit for at least this much.

It is an explanation that reminded me a passage from Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. In the midst of the violence of the war in Iraq, I reached for this book in an effort to understand war better; not this war so much but rather war itself, from the eyes of a man who witnessed it and understood it well.

In chapter three, the protagonist, Lt. Henry, says the following to a priest who is disappointed by his actions - or rather - lack thereof:

That night at the mess I sat next to the priest and he was disappointed and suddenly hurt that I had not gone to the Abruzzi. He had written to his father that I was coming and they had made preparations. I myself felt as badly as he did and could not understand why I had not gone. It was what I had wanted to do and I tried to explain how one thing had led to another and finally he saw it and understood that I had really wanted to go and it was almost all right. I had drunk much wine and afterwards coffee and Strega and I explained, winefully, how we did not do the things we wanted to do; we never did such things.

Note the sincerity and simultaneous inadequacy of Lt. Henry’s plea to the priest. There is no doubt that he earnestly wishes things had turned out differently, but his explanation for his inaction ultimately turns into a hollow plea for sympathy: we did not do the things we wanted to do; we never did such things. The priest is not placated by the explanation; it is, at best, “almost all right.”

So too with Pres. Bush. It would be cruel to doubt the man’s sincerity. But when so many crucial tasks begun remain unfinished, the plea for sympathy in the form of always acting decisively and with conviction that he was doing the right thing is about as satisfying as knowing that we do not do the things we want to do; we never do such things.

The next president will not have the luxury of this explanation. “The question facing the president is not when the problem started, but what did you do about it when you recognized the problem?” asks Pres. Bush (12:40 in video below) in his last press conference. On day one, Pres. Elect Obama will have to deliver solutions to problems Pres. Bush could not solve.

Set aside the things he wants to accomplish; his will be the presidency of the things he needs to accomplish to get this country back on track.

Long after the final soldiers leave Iraq and US housing prices hit a bottom, historians will undoubtedly - with the benefit of hindsight - give George W. Bush higher marks than we do today.

But for the moment, it is easy to understand why his tenure seems, at best, “almost all right.”

 

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