Missing Dubya?
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New York Times op-ed columnist Stanley Fish teases his readers this week with the question: Do you miss George W. Bush yet? In the fall of 2008, he predicted that within a year or so, Americans would begin to regard Bush with a dash of nostalgia and a modicum of affection. Well, here we are, Fish writes, despite the projections to the contrary by the hundreds who commented on that piece and called him a fool. This is Fish's triumphant 'I told you so' moment.
The signs are there, Fish points out, including a billboard in Minnesota that says, "Miss me yet?" and a positive Newsweek cover with the 2003 Bush "Mission Accomplished" photo and a headline that says, "Victory at Last." The American public just may now be witnessing how a little time, a little positive spin, a fear that Obama's change equates to 'more of the same,' and a new villain (Sarah Palin) can soften a visceral hatred that people believed would endure until the sun went out. The joint fundraising efforts with former president Bill Clinton didn't hurt either.
Writes Fish:
And the judgment of history? Well, I’m not that foolish, but I will venture to say that it will be more nuanced than anything the professional Bush-haters — indistinguishable in temperament from the professional Obama-haters — are now able to imagine. He will not go to the top of the list, but neither will he be the figure of fun and derision he seemed destined to be only a year ago. You heard it here.
What do you think? Is the passing of time offering a more objective view of the Bush years?
(Photo credit: Nevada Tumbleweed; C.C. 2.0)
