From Truman to Lincoln — Bush finds a new role model in the mirror
Towards the end of 2006, after the president realized he should at least get to know the leaders of the new Democratic majority a little, Bush welcomed the leading Democratic lawmakers to the White House for a chat. According to participants, Bush launched into an explanation of why he’s just like Harry Truman.
Instead, Bush began his talk by comparing himself to President Harry S Truman, who launched the Truman Doctrine to fight communism, got bogged down in the Korean War and left office unpopular.
Bush said that “in years to come they realized he was right and then his doctrine became the standard for America,” recalled Senate Majority Whip-elect Richard Durbin, D-Ill. “He’s trying to position himself in history and to justify those who continue to stand by him, saying sometimes if you’re right you’re unpopular, and be prepared for criticism.”
Durbin said he challenged Bush’s analogy, reminding him that Truman had the NATO alliance behind him and negotiated with his enemies at the United Nations. Durbin said that’s what the Iraq Study Group is recommending that Bush do now – work more with allies and negotiate with adversaries on Iraq. Bush, Durbin said, “reacted very strongly. He got very animated in his response” and emphasized that he is “the commander in chief.”
That was 13 months ago. The good news is, Bush no longer believes he’s a modern-day Truman. The bad news is, he now believes he’s a modern-day Lincoln.
The White House extended “unprecedented access” to Fox News for a documentary on Bush’s first seven years in office. (I wonder how they came to pick that network above the others?) FNC’s Bret Baier, whose hour-long piece will air on Sunday, noticed that Bush repeatedly linked himself to the nation’s 16th president.
“We talked a lot about President Lincoln. And there’s going to be a lot of people out there who watch this hour and say, is he trying to equate himself with Lincoln?
“I tell you what — he thinks about Lincoln and the tough times that he had during the Civil War. 600,000 dead. The country essentially hated him when he was leaving office.
“And the President reflects on that. This is a President who is really reflecting on his place in history.”
There was no indication that Baier was kidding.
Given the absurdity of the comparison, it’s tempting to just laugh it off altogether, but Faiz tracked down a good item in Salon from Garret Epps, who scrutinized the differences between Bush and Lincoln the last time the White House drew this connection.
…Lincoln had none of Bush’s obstinacy and egotism. He scorned yes men, and surrounded himself with Cabinet officials better known than he was, refusing to purge even those actively working against his own political interests. He had no personal vanity at all (when a political opponent accused him of being “two-faced,” Lincoln responded, “If I had two faces, would I be wearing this one?”). The historical imagination rebels at the very idea of his swaggering around in the cavalry equivalent of Bush’s flight suit. He was always ready to sit down with his adversaries, favored compromise whenever possible and never held a grudge. “With malice toward none, with charity toward all” was for Lincoln more than a rhetorical flourish; it was the key to his greatness.
Most important, Lincoln was a lawyer. It is hard to find any sign that Lincoln thought himself above the law. He had none of Bush’s scorn for procedures and rights. He used executive authority in an emergency — and always dutifully reported to Congress and asked for its ratification as soon as a new session began. He restricted civil liberties temporarily, and without enthusiasm — he once compared his suspension of habeas corpus to the drugs doctors give to induce vomiting. Unlike this administration — which will not ask for legal authority even when it knows it will receive it — Lincoln never did anything to prove a point. He didn’t have an authoritarian bone in his lanky body. His objective was victory for the Union, not power for himself.
George W. Bush is Lincoln the way Dan Quayle is Jack Kennedy.
Bush is delusional for making the comparison — and Fox News is no better for airing it as if it were a legitimate point.
With any luck we have the last Republican president comparing himself to the first.
“The country essentially hated him when he was leaving office.”
This may be true of Bush, but it isn’t true of Lincoln. For sure one person hated Lincoln, enough to kill him to get him to leave office, but Lincoln still had pretty much a full term left before he was to leave office, no?
Aside from the Bush’s ridiculous claims, here’s what to say to the fuckheads about Bush and Lincoln:
Lincoln had sense enough to be concerned about all the people who lived and died because of his decisions. He had serious doubts about many of his decisions. Bush, on the other hand, makes decisions that result in the deaths of thousands, the destruction of a nation, trillions of dollars wasted, and he says he sleeps like a baby.
“I must tell you, I’m sleeping a lot better than people would assume,” [Bush] said.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9346.html
The man is a sociopath.
i cannot WAIT — this is going to the most side-splitting hagiography you could imagine.
poor Jeff Gannon —- errrr, i mean Bret Baier.
it’s a dead-sure sign that you’re the most compliant boot licking dog in the entire journalistic (term-used-loosely) world if w opens up to your for an hour ?
This Talon News Channel … errrrrr … Fox News Channel report will be the funniest thing you’ve seen since .. oh … i don’t know … a Hitler cartoon ?
“Lincoln still had pretty much a full term left before he was to leave office, no?”
Lincoln’s second inauguration took place on March 4th 1865 (he won 212 of 233 electoral votes, for the record). He was assassinated on April 14th of the same year, only 5 days after Lee surrendered and the war was essentially won.
Yeah, I just don’t know where to start…
In a perfect world, Bush WOULD be just like both Lincoln and Truman. Dead.
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
It’s interesting that the fool brings up Lincoln. Last September, before a vacation to Virginia, my wife and I watched Ken Burn’s Civil War documentary again just to freshen up our minds. (I’ve read several Civil War histories over the years too.) We watched the discs over a week or so.
I consider the documentary general but fairly even-handed and very enjoyable. Now I try to avoid scatalogical images when I toss in my two cents in comments sections on my favorite blogs. There seem to be plenty of folks out there more than willing, so why add to it. However, by the end of the episode dealing with Lincoln’s assassination, I came to the firm conclusion that George W. Bush is not worthy enough to lick Abe Lincoln’s balls.
If the arrogant moron fancies himself a Civil War metaphor, let him try out the Northern, upper class draft dodger who paid some schmoe a few bills to take his place in the draft line. He will find that coat very comfortable.
Putz.
Yes, it’s clear to see how Bush, the ultimate sub-mediocre product of name, money and connections and the embodiment of our ugliest national character traits, is just like the man who epitomized meritocracy and remains the historic voice for “the better angels of our nature.”
He’s beyond disgusting.
I’ve recently been reading Gore Vidal’s Lincoln, which I feel does a good job in presenting a Lincoln unsure of himself in a lot of ways but also as a person who kept going when it seemed hopeless and kept trying different things until stuff started working. I highly recommend the book–Vidal’s a genius, and many of the ancillary characters in the book, like Seward and Chase, are incredibly interesting.
At this point, though, Bush’s comparing of himself to other historical Presidents is really a dog bites man story. Even his own party pretty much hates him at this point because of the war and immigration. The major difference between Lincoln and Bush is that half the country was gone before Lincoln took office. He inherited a mess from James Buchanan, and he eventually fixed it. Bush inherited a generally good situation from Clinton and messed it up in almost every way imaginable. And I suspect he knows it, so he tries to make himself feel better by talking about other unpopular presidents, as though there were any resemblance between them at all. Of all the presidents, Bush probably most closely resembles Warren G. Harding (or maybe Ulysses Grant)–a man who was never fit for the presidency, had poor judgment in terms of his intimates’ character and abilities, and got ensnared in huge scandals that ruined their presidencies and legacies. If anything, the comparisons are disfavorable to Bush, as at least Harding was honest about his inadequacy, and Grant had his accomplishments as a general to fall back upon. Bush has the Texas Rangers.
I wonder if Bush’s bubble will ever pop. Or if he will create an alternate reality in Crawford and stay comfortably within it. Until he is arrested.
Lincoln left office? Really?
It’s funny, I always thought he was shot.
That Darn Dubya, creating his own realities again…oh, he makes me laugh…
Wait…no he doesn’t.
I’m sure the country, nay the world, would be inconsolable if he were shot.
If Bush were shot we’d go all John Gibson on his ass.
dumbass. I love my President. What do you do clean toilets?
If it werent for Jimmy Carter, Clinton would be the worst president ever, him or FDR… hell none of them dumbocrats are any good. Look at the incompetent, unqualified idiots in line now…Hillary? Obamma? Edwards?
Lev, do you call a recession a good thing to inherit? Do you think 3 spys in the whole mideast a good situation. Clinton came close to taking this country down.
His average unemployment is 6.3% with a low of 5.7% Bush is around 4.7% and a low of 4.5%
The economy has been much stronger.
Clintons one claim to fame was Welfare reform which he vetoed twice and was Authored by Rick Santorum
The semi-literacy of trolls never ceases to amuse me. They betray their jackassedness in the most mundane and revelatory of ways. Few have ever grasped the notion that writing coherently helps others take you seriously.
Lincoln was compared to an ape by his enemies, and Bush is compared to a chimp by his, so…actually they have a LOT in common! Well, I guess that’s about it.
“I love my President.”
Why don’t all of you Bush lovers gather in a phone booth for a group photo?
RacerX – Lincoln wasn’t just concerned, he suffered from terrible depression throughout much of his presidency. He also wrestled with his faith like a person going through an existential crisis.
And Bush, of course, sleeps like a baby.
“when he was leaving office” –
Rather a mild way of putting things. “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
It would be very nice indeed, if Bush was to ‘leave office’ in the same way Lincoln did. Of course, on the condition that Cheney is seen around the corner with his ‘hunting gun’ in hand. Dennis Thompson troll would certainly have a heart attack…. wait… he doesn’t have a heart.
Funny funny…. to see a 28%’er coming around sometimes, because at times I wonder whether there truly are still that many morons living in America.
Not too many people dare fessing up to it in person; too embarrassing.
I don’t like to brag, but the closest comparison to me has always been Jesus Christ on steroids. But sometimes, I only feel like Buddha on brain pills.
Update: I was just informed by my ego that I am George Washington, Winston Churchill, and the good parts of Ghengis Khan. Go figure.
Truman, Lincoln, who’s next? Jefferson? Washington?
Why limit yourself to just Presidents?
Next it will be a “refreshing” comparison to Mose and the burning bush.
I think he’s losing his marbles. It’s troubling to watch.
“His average unemployment is 6.3% with a low of 5.7% Bush is around 4.7% and a low of 4.5%”
Where did you get 6.3% average with a low of 5.7%? According to the Dept of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Stastistics, Clinton’s average was around 5.7%, with his lowest being 4% (2000).
What is interesting is that when he came into office in 1993, unemployment was at 6.9%. When he left office in 2001, it was at 4.7%.
Under Bush, you had a start rate of 4.7%, to the current rate of 5%.
“Clintons one claim to fame was Welfare reform which he vetoed twice and was Authored by Rick Santorum”
Well, you could also throw in there that he proved tax increases are not always harmful to the economy.
(albeit, the increase was smaller that the 1983 tax increase, when you take into consideration percentage of GNP. That Reagan was such a big government liberal)
Also, I love my country more than I do any president.
Last week I read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book “Team of Rivals”. As I am reaching an advanced age, I must be misremembering it. I thought that although there had been some talk of rescinding Lincoln’s nomination for a second term, the war began to go better and he was re-nominated by unanimous proclamation at the Republican convention and then won re-election in a landslide. Southerners didn’t think too highly of him, but in the North (that would be my team….since when did the traitors become the “real Americans”?) he was very popular.
I found the book mildly confusing. I kept cheering for the Republican nominee to win the elections. It was a little disorienting.
It reminds me of a line I read in a book once, Richard Russo’s wonderful “Empire Falls”. Two brothers are discussing their alcoholic father, a sometime house painter. One says, “But he can still climb like a monkey”. The other responds,”He does everything like a monkey”.
Yes, Bush sleeps like a baby; he does everything like a baby.
Ugh. I can’t even watch him on TV. I have to read about what he says. I just hope that the next president can clean up some of the mess that he has made.
I can’t believe how some people still think that he’s a good president.
I guess that, to folks like Dennis T., one simply has to be a Republican politician to be any good. All Democrats are off the table. Simply cannot be any good. By definition.
So how come Bush is always comparing himself to Democratic presidents? Like Truman, and (let’s face it) like Lincoln would be if he were alive today.