Commentary: People aren't saints just because they die or grow old; but honestly recognizing their defects shouldn't blind us to the good or heroic in them.
George Bush? There's a lot to admire, even love; but he also did some terrible things. It's beyond my pay grade to attempt some final accounting.
He was courageous in dangerous situations, but modest. He maintained a loving marriage for a lifetime, and seems to have been a good father. He was capable, and by all accounts personally decent. He cared more about government than about politics. He resigned loudly from the NRA and spoke out against Mr. Trump. He gains stature by comparison with Trump: Bush could read, think, and collegially talk with opponents.
He was born with the proverbial silver spoon (son of a U.S. Senator from a prestigious family), with all that entails. He had self-assurance and “class.”
He also used the Willie Horton ad, considered the most racist presidential campaign ad ever, pre-Trump. He lied to the country in creating the racist War on Drugs, which most law-enforcement officials now concede was misguided and ineffective.
But he was better than he might have been.
I'm prejudiced in his favor regarding the first Kuwait war. I'd been in Kuwait with my Kuwaiti friends, and wanted them freed from the Iraqi occupation. The occupiers arrested and nearly executed one of my closest friends. So I'm not objective as to our getting into that war – though I do wonder about reports that U.S. officials including April Glaspie covertly signaled approval to Saddam before Iraq invaded.
Most or all of Bush's misdeeds he believed were in his country's interest – or at least in his party's interest, or his political interest. We're all partially blinded by the belief systems we grow up with and by our life experiences.
Strongly opposing the bad things Bush did, or acquiesced in, doesn't keep me from appreciating a great deal about him. (I'd likely feel different if I had a black son destroyed by the War on Drugs, or if I'd been bombed by the U.S., or imprisoned by a U.S.-supported “government” in Latin America.)
A close friend posted on Facebook a lovely image of George and Barbara dancing against a starry night-sky. I understand my friend's romantic feeling about the private Bush; but he shouldn't lose sight of significant facts about the public one.
Other friends have re-posted the long analysis in the Intercept of Bush's misdeeds. Many of its charges are accurate; but to those friends I'd say, if you can manage it, don't lose sight of what was good in this guy.
Yeah, I mostly opposed him, politically; but he was Yale's baseball captain, a war hero, a good husband and father, and a capable public servant, even if his skills were sometimes used for appalling purposes. He was the kind of moderate Republican that party has eradicated. He celebrated his 80th birthday by jumping out of an airplane.
I'm not convinced there's Heaven or Hell. I've rarely met anyone wholly evil or wholly good. Even Barack Obama, a very decent guy, could be considered a war criminal. So I try to see the good in folks I disagree with, and the warts on people I like or admire – and retain that vision after people die.
Seeing clearly is even more important with local political figures here at home.