Former President George H.W. Bush
Former President George H.W. Bush, who died last Friday night at the age of 94, was a Republican through and through. Accordingly, Democrats would rightfully take issue with almost all of Bush’s presidential actions and policies. Yet, virtually all leading Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff and others, have released messages of sincere and glowing praise for Bush. What’s going on?
The answer can be found in one word: normalcy. Specifically, these Democrats recognize that George H.W. Bush believed in the basic institutions of government and society that have been built up for many decades under the Constitution. This includes Bush’s public service, from World War II military service to two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives to his directorship of the CIA, his ambassadorships to the U.N. and China, his terms as Vice President and President, and other posts. On Bush’s last day as president, he left a stunningly warm and heartfelt letter to incoming President Clinton, the man who defeated him for a second term. In 2004, Bush teamed with Clinton to assist in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami that hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Thereafter, Bush and Clinton became good friends.
Additionally, many of us recognize that Bush had a sense of “natural humanity” (as Clinton put it) and decency. Perhaps Bush’s humanity was shaped by losing his three year-old daughter Robin to Leukemia in 1953. This humanity and decency was also expressed in Bush’s signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires businesses and public facilities to make accommodations for people with physical disabilities. Likewise, a month after the deadly 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building Oklahoma City by right wing anti-government terrorists, when the National Rifle Association then sent out a fundraising letter attacking federal agents as “jack-booted thugs,” Bush publicly and angrily quit his lifetime NRA membership.
Through their praise of George H.W. Bush, leading Democrats may be sending us an additional signal: that Bush’s normalcy, belief in basic institutions, and fundamental decency are nowhere to be found with Donald Trump. Indeed, Bush called Trump a “blowhard” and said that he voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. When Bush’s wife Barbara died last April, the Bush family did not even invite Trump to the funeral.
Donald Trump represents the attempt to blow up the legitimacy of basic institutions of government and society that George W. Bush fought for. When decisions from such institutions don’t go Trump’s way, he attacks them as being “fake.” This includes much of the news media, the FBI, the CIA, and his own government agencies, such as the intelligence community’s reports about Russian interference in the 2016 elections, and government scientists’ latest dire warnings about climate change.
Trump is also trying to tear apart the basic fabric of American society. Trump’s overt appeals to racism and bigotry are unprecedented from a modern day president. We can only imagine that, if this was 1860, Trump would tell the Confederate states that it’s fine if they want to secede from the United States of America, and that in fact he’d like their policy of slavery to spread to the rest of the country. Trump’s attempt to tear America apart (presumably to make it easier to conquer) isn’t normal, and we must never normalize him.
In the coming days and weeks, there will be discussions about George H.W. Bush’s actions and policies, including his racist Willie Horton campaign ad, his invasion of Panama, his nomination of right wing judge Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, his pardons of Caspar Weinberger and others that served to cut off investigation of Iran Contra, and more. Democrats disagree vehemently with many of these steps, and therefore with much of Bush’s legacy. But these discussions will take place within a basic framework of institutional integrity and basic human decency that is missing when we talk about Donald Trump.
Photo by USMC Archives, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/DmLSzh
