【2022 Archives】

Editor's note: This022 Archivesthe 42nd entry in the writer's project to read one book about each of the U.S. Presidents in the year prior to Election Day 2016. Follow Marcus' progress at the@44in52Twitter account and the44 in 52 Spreadsheet.

In case you were wondering what kind of perspective you're getting with Jean Edward Smith's Bush, his biography of President George W. Bush, let the opening sentence do the work.

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That attention-grabbing opener sets the tone for a close look at a controversial presidency -- and probably the most subjective biography I've read in the project since Unger's bio of James Monroe.

Essentially, there are two Bushes: pre-9/11 and post-9/11. The pre-9/11 Bush seemed to be a collaborator, a "compassionate conservative" with a laid-back approach to policy. But the post-9/11 Bush was "The Decider," a gung-ho crusader.

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Of course, 9/11 occurred less than nine months into Bush's presidency -- so the balance of his time in the White House was spent as a war president. And it's on that topic that Smith delivers the most strident criticism of Bush (more criticism than he levied in the other two bios of his that I read, Grant and FDR).

Like most anyone reading this right now, I distinctly remember the events of September 11, 2001. And I remember thinking, even then, that Bush in the days after the attacks, was at the high watermark of his presidency.

It was all downhill from there.

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I also remember Hurricane Katrina. As the storm came ashore, I was a resident of New Orleans -- and watched from a couch in my parents' house in Alabama as my city flooded.

I remember my seething anger at what I saw as an irresponsible and unconscionable response by Bush and FEMA.

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Shortly after getting through this section of the book, I wondered if my own reactions were a sign that there's just not enough distance yet to fairly, objectively assess the second Bush presidency.

After all, I had just read the book about his father's presidency which seemed to be a fairly major revision of hislegacy, something that took nearly 25 years.

There's so much more to the Bush presidency, but Smith, understandably, focuses his attention and his criticism on the war in Iraq and its consequences. It wasn't just a defining event of his presidency, it was a defining event of the 21st century.

And it's still playing out; Smith notes the destabilization caused by that war and how it led to the Islamic State, a group that has certainly played a part in the 2016 election.

It's only with emotional time and distance we can be come detached enough to be more objective. Example: recent recalculations on GHWB

— 44 in 52 (@44in52) November 5, 2016

This obscures many important non-war-related aspects of Bush's legacy -- No Child Left Behind; the tearing down of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change; a convoluted decision on stem-cell research; the controversial firing of U.S. attorneys.

There are also aspects of Bush's presidency that would make him look almost liberal in today's GOP, such as his pro-immigration stance and his fight against AIDS.

All remain overshadowed, not just by 9/11 and two wars but by the economic turmoil that engulfed the nation at the end of his second term.

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Not that it's not worth looking at his presidency now. If anything, it's still close enough to see a clear through-line into the Obama presidency, even to the 2016 race (see the discussion of W's legacy, most of it negative, in the GOP primary debates).

I don't think history will be any kinder to Bush in the long-term, unlike his father. Between Iraq and the economic collapse, there's just too much to overcome. But I'll be interested to see, in the coming years, just how much light gets shed on those other aspects of his presidency.

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I'm particularly interested in how history will view his work in Africa to fight AIDS. It's powerful work, one that Bush definitely deserves credit and praise for.

It won't be enough, though.

The cloud of war will continue to hang over Bush throughout history, the way Vietnam haunts Johnson (and to a lesser extent, JFK and Nixon). How much of the rest will peek through remains to be seen.

Days to read Washington: 16Days to read Adams: 11Days to read Jefferson: 10Days to read Madison: 13Days to read Monroe: 6Days to read J. Q. Adams: 10Days to read Jackson: 11Days to read Van Buren: 9Days to read Harrison: 6Days to read Tyler: 3Days to read Polk: 8Days to read Taylor: 8Days to read Fillmore: 14Days to read Pierce: 1Days to read Buchanan: 1Days to read Lincoln: 12Days to read Johnson: 8Days to read Grant: 27Days to read Hayes: 1Days to read Garfield: 3Days to read Arthur: 17Days to hear Cleveland: 3Days to read Harrison: 4Days to read McKinley: 5Days to read T. Roosevelt: 15Days to read Taft: 13Days to read Wilson: 10Days to read Harding: 3Days to read Coolidge: 7Days to read Hoover: 9Days to read FDR: 11Days to read Truman: 14Days to read Eisenhower: 11Days to read JFK: 10Days to read LBJ: 6Days to read Nixon: 6Days to read Ford: 4  Days to listen to Carter: 2Days to listen to Reagan: 8Days to read GWHB: 8Days to read Clinton: 9Days to read GWB: 8

Days behind schedule: 10