Reading Rove on his last day in the WH:
President Bush will be viewed as a far-sighted leader who confronted the key test of the 21st century by manipulating the scientific proof of that key test–global warming–so his donors could continue to profit off the dying petroleum age while they still had a chance.
Hewill be judged as a man of moral clarity who put America on wartimefooting in the dangerous struggle against radical Islamic terrorism–and he only did it ten months too late, after ignoring all the accurate warnings that Richard Clarke gave him.
Followingthe horrors of 9/11, this president changed American foreign policy bydeclaring terror sponsors responsible for the deeds of those theyshelter, train, and fund unless those terror sponsors were from either of the two countries with closest ties to those who attacked us: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
And this president sawthe wisdom of removing terrorism’s cause by advocating the spread ofdemocracy, especially in the Muslim world, where authoritarianism andrepression have provided a potent growth medium for despair and angeraimed at the West and then, to save his failing war, he advocated bringing in Saddam light to fix his fuck-up.
Whilethe world dithered, America confronted HIV/AIDS in Africa with thePresident’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has supportedtreatment for more than 1.1 million people worldwide, over one millionof them in Africa. By doing so, Bush ensured that 1.1 million people would lose their access to the condoms that had been slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
While most of the globe ignored Sudan and Darfur orrefused to act, this president labeled the violence there genocide —and pressed world leaders to take action while taking no action himself.
President Bush promotes economic growth and understands free markets provide the best path to a more hopeful tomorrow yet he ensures his cronies defy all market realities by giving them no-bid contracts that suck dry the government’s coffers.
In education, “No Child Left Behind†introducedaccountability into our public-education system by ensuring everychild’s progress is measured–the kind of accountability Bush refused for his own failing policies in Iraq–or anywhere else, for that matter.
He advanced a culture of life where every child is protected and welcomed yet our infant mortality rates continued to grow and ranked us near the bottom among all developed nations. Welcome to death, kiddo!
It’s not until we get down here near the end that Rove addresses the real issue that will sink Bush’s legacy.