Salute to G.W. Bush Part Two: 5 Things Bush Got Right
In honor of President Bush’s last days in office Dallas South is running a 3 Part Series titled “Salute to G.W. Bush”. Today I’m posting 5 Things Bush Got Right. Tomorrow I will share personal reflections on the Bush years and will post a Bonus Bush Video on Friday.
5 Things Bush Got Right
5. Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
Entitlement programs in America are broken, and Medicare is no exception. But President Bush helped to push though a prescription drug benefit for seniors during his watch that made a difference for many Americans who were having to choose between buying medicine and buying food.
About a third of all seniors are now eligible for prescription drug coverage that includes little or no premiums, low deductibles, and no gaps in coverage. Medicare now pays for more than 95 percent of costs associated with prescription drugs for low-income seniors.
4. African-Americans in Key Positions
African-Americans -namely Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice- achieved higher prominence in the Bush Administration than in that of any other president (including the so-called “First Black President”). Bush set a high bar for President Obama and I think so far I’d have to call 44’s appointments a draw up to this point.
3. Removing Donald Rumsfeld from the Pentagon
I’ve devoted a lot of space on this blog to praising the job Robert Gates has done as Secretary of Defense. But by the time he got to Washington it was too little too late.
Donald Rumsfeld had already done more damage with his incompetent arrogance than Gates could repair. Still I give Bush credit for doing something that he rarely did while in office: admitting a mistake by changing course.
2. Focus on Terrorism
After the attacks of 9/11, most Americans -even those who thought he stole the 2000 Election- rallied around President Bush and his administration. The country gave him plenty of latitude to pursue radical terrorists across the globe.
While linking the Taliban and Al Qaeda to Iraq was probably Bush’s biggest error, focusing more on extremist who would harm American citizens was a step that was necessary. How he carried out strategies associated with that focus -including torturing suspected terrorist- is another matter entirely.
1. Committment to Africa
I wouldn’t say that Bush was a vocal support of Africa, but he definitely put his money where his mouth is. The continent was a significant part of Bush foreign policy and will be one of the few brights spots of the Bush Legacy.
In President Bush’s first term, development assistance to Africa more than doubled. He also pledged to double the total bilateral a multilateral assistance to Africa again by 2010.
