It’s Not Easy Being President

It is not easy being president. Perhaps more than others, former President George W. Bush learned this.

President Bush made mistakes. So did his predecessor. So will his successor. But President Bush presided over some of the most difficult and unprecedented events in American history. His popularity was doomed less than a year after he took office by an event that would require whoever was the American president at the time to make some decisions that would make many people unhappy. This was the situation President Bush faced on September 11, 2001.

Imagine you were the president on that terrible day. Your routine has been interrupted by the news delivered by an aide that commercial jetliners have been deliberately crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. You know the death toll is likely to reach into the thousands. Then you are told another plane has crashed into the Pentagon and yet another in a field in Pennsylvania.

Immediately you consult with the experts you rely on for information. You are told that a terrorist group has launched an attack on the United States. Your intelligence people tell you that information strongly suggests that Iraq’s President, Saddam Hussein, has been providing safe haven for terrorists, and has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction for unknown purposes. You know from past dealings with this man that he is no friend to the United States, and that he has on more than one occasion, ordered the executions of citizens of his own country without benefit of trial or defense. As you stand at ground zero, you tell the American people that those who knocked down these buildings are going to pay for their crime. People are excited. Yes. That is what we should do. We should go after them. We should make them pay. They cannot do this to the strongest nation in the world.

You, as president, launch an attack on Iraq, eventually capturing a cowardly Hussein who has taken to hiding underground, literally. You bring down his government and replace it with a government seeking to establish a democracy where once a cruel dictatorship existed. Free elections are held for the first time in many decades.

This is exactly the scenario followed by President Bush following 9/11. He made a very logical choice which was supported by the majority of the members of Congress and the majority of American citizens, and by some of this nation’s allies.

But, things did not happen quickly enough for many. Our troops had to stay in Iraq because the terrorists did not lay down their arms and surrender. The new government in Iraq, infant and unstable, proved inadequate to meet the challenges of protecting its own citizens. Those who supported President Bush in the war on terrorism began to waffle in their support. The American people, who have become accustomed to quick fixes, grew restless. The liberal media, who were not fans of President Bush because of his conservatism, showed the gore and violence of the war in Iraq in full color and high definition on nightly newscasts, influencing more and more Americans, and the rest of the world as well, to criticize the president’s decision.

Then came a storm unlike any other. Katrina, they named her. She roared across the Gulf of Mexico and slammed herself full fury into an unprepared city absorbed in its own interests. Walls built to keep water out failed and water flowed in. Homes and businesses were destroyed. Infrastructure was ruined. Floods submerged neighborhoods, drowning the city in a nightmare of suffering and despair.

No one had prepared for this disaster because, quite frankly, the scope of this disaster was far beyond the scope of disasters for which governments can be prepared. But President Bush was criticized. He should have been prepared. People should not suffer like people in the ruined city were suffering.

People have long memories where perceived failure is concerned. People have short memories where the truth is concerned. The truth is, President Bush responded to a real, urgent and profound threat to America’s security. He brought down a regime that made life miserable for its own citizens and threatened the rest of the world with its arrogance. People forget that.

The federal government under the Bush administration did help New Orleans recover and rebuild. Millions of tax dollars were spent to provide food and medicines, and to repair and restore the city. People forget that.

Then came the worst economic disaster since the depression in the 1930s. The housing market failed. Banks tottered on the edge of bankruptcy. Jobs were lost. Stock markets tumbled. People panicked. And, of course, President Bush was blamed for not having proper oversight of a free market. The truth is that the roots of this economic downtown are found in previous administrations where banks were encouraged to grant home loans to people who could not afford to pay the monthly payments. Necessities such as having regular employment with an income capable of supporting mortgage payments were set aside because the policy was that everyone should be able to own a home, even if they could not afford it.

This unwise practice became overburdened and top heavy while President Bush was still in office. This caused the housing market to fail as loans that never should have been made in the first place led to foreclosures. This in turn scared investors and consumers. Businesses were forced to lay off people. Jobs were lost, sales dwindled, and people blamed President Bush.

Hopefully, as we move further away from the immediacy of the Bush Administration, people will come to view President Bush in a more kindly, and correct, light. He made tough decisions in unprecedented situations. What is right is not always popular.

We don’t like war, but wars keep coming. We don’t like natural disasters, but natural disasters keep coming. We don’t like economic downturns, but economic downturns keep coming.

President Bush’s successor is bound to find out, as he did, that it is not easy being president.