Nixon v. Bush
Today’s New York Times holds a short but very interesting article, by Jules Witcover, on the comparison between Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.
Although the correspondent notes he is not in a position to assess whether Bush is a candidate for the worst president in time, he has a number of good points on the comparison between Nixon, widely thought of as a strong contester for the worst president in recent times, and the incumbent Bush. He notes, for instance,
“Like Nixon in 1972 winning re-election by feeding off unrest and violence in the streets, Bush in 2004 tapped into post-9/11 fears and appeals to patriotism to gain a second term. Although there is not yet any domestic scandal of Watergate dimensions hanging over him, an odor of incompetence in the management of the war, in the care provided to returning wounded, and in the disarray of his Justice Department stifles the atmosphere for his remaining time in the White House.”
The article concludes that while Nixon’s fall from grace mainly was a result of domestic problems (overshadowing some notable foreign policy achievements), the problems facing Bush stem from what turned out to be bad politics abroad.
While judgement of Bush’s presidency is best reserved for when he has gone, comparisons like this always bode for exciting reading and many more are likely to come in the run-up to the next US presidential election.
Check out the story for yourself at http://campaigningforhistory.blogs.nytimes.com/
(NOTE)
The NY Times makes its select content available to all academics and students. To register for this free service (which you need to access the post) click here.
Although the correspondent notes he is not in a position to assess whether Bush is a candidate for the worst president in time, he has a number of good points on the comparison between Nixon, widely thought of as a strong contester for the worst president in recent times, and the incumbent Bush. He notes, for instance,
“Like Nixon in 1972 winning re-election by feeding off unrest and violence in the streets, Bush in 2004 tapped into post-9/11 fears and appeals to patriotism to gain a second term. Although there is not yet any domestic scandal of Watergate dimensions hanging over him, an odor of incompetence in the management of the war, in the care provided to returning wounded, and in the disarray of his Justice Department stifles the atmosphere for his remaining time in the White House.”
The article concludes that while Nixon’s fall from grace mainly was a result of domestic problems (overshadowing some notable foreign policy achievements), the problems facing Bush stem from what turned out to be bad politics abroad.
While judgement of Bush’s presidency is best reserved for when he has gone, comparisons like this always bode for exciting reading and many more are likely to come in the run-up to the next US presidential election.
Check out the story for yourself at http://campaigningforhistory.blogs.nytimes.com/
(NOTE)
The NY Times makes its select content available to all academics and students. To register for this free service (which you need to access the post) click here.
Comments
I wonder if Bush may attempt to correct some of his failures by attempting to open a dialogue with Iran. Not likely given his rhetoric over the last 7 years, but Nixon was feeling the pinch at home and realized that he needed to get something accomplished in China in a similar situation. Of course, I don't see any Kissingers on Bush's staff.
I think Guantanamo Bay will go down as a real black eye for this presidency. This American Life is a really excellent weekly radio show, and they did a show on Habeas Corpus, and how that is one of the only rights remaining (or not) to the Guantanamo Bay detainees. They interviewed some prisoners who were released, and talked about what kind of torture takes place there. It won a Peabody award I think. In any case, Ira Glass talked about other World leaders in history who have suspended the right of habeas corpus. President Lincoln did it during the American Civil War, and that worked out ok for him. However one segment talks about the amicus brief filed by 175 British MP's before the Supreme ocurt talking about what happened when the British created a similer Guantanamo Bay over 300 years ago. Here's the link: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1185
I think that those kind of mistakes in the face of attacks are what really has shown the weakness of GW. No matter how despicable the criminal, we can't put them into "legal outer space" as Bush has called it.
Carter: ... I read an op-ed piece … that pretty well … describes my views…. I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world this Administration has been the worst in history. And the overt reversal of America’s basic values as expressed by previous Administrations, including George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others has been the most disturbing to me. We have a new policy now on war. We now have endorsed the concept of preemptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily even though our own security is not directly threatened if we want to change the regime there or if we feel sometime in the future our security might be endangered. That’s been a radical departure from all previous Administration policies. And we have had for the first time since Israel was founded we have had zero peace talks to try to bring a resolution of differences in the Middle East. That’s a radical departure from the past. We’ve also abandoned or directly refuted every nuclear arms control agreement ever negotiated down through history. And I think we have had a radical departure in my opinion from separation of church and state policies that have permeated previous administrations as expressed succinctly by Thomas Jefferson that we ought to build a wall between church and state. We’ve had an abandonment of almost every previous Administration’s policy on environmental quality. Many of them basic laws that were passed under Richard Nixon and other Republican Presidents as a matter of fact I think we have pretty well abandoned those. So I think the last few years have been of most concern to me.