A Term and a Half

In 1988, George Herbert Walker Bush (Bush 41) was elected President of the United States. Bush 41 was a thoughtful and measured man, one who really listened to all his advisors and who chose to work toward consensus with those who held differing viewpoints.

In 1990, after Iraq attacked Kuwait, Bush 41 made every effort to resolve the conflict through diplomatic channels. When this failed, then, and only then, did he go to war with Iraq. And like the man, the war was measured. Once the stated objective, freeing Kuwait, was achieved and the no fly zones put in place, Bush 41 was true to his word and the war ended.

Neo-cons were furious. They wanted to continue to prosecute the war and drive Saddam Hussein from power. Bush 41 knew the perils that removing Saddam would bring. The vacuum created by his removal would be to re-visit Yugoslavia, only worse. Besides, Saddam was widely disregarded in the Arab world and provided an effective buffer against fundamentalist factions in the region. And so, Bush 41 said “no!” And two years later he was out of office…after only one term.

Anno Domini 2000, George W. Bush (Bush 43) enters the White House. He is the antithesis of Bush 41. He is neither thoughtful nor measured…and the neo-cons have his ear (and most other body parts). He leaps at the chance to effectively abandon the righteous pursuit of Osama Bin Laden (whom he can’t seem to catch) and go after Saddam Hussein (whom he thinks will be easy pickin's). He got it partly right. Saddam was pretty easy to dispatch but the beatific vision of America as the liberator (the pipe dream of every neo-con) was not to be. Today, if you were to look up the terms “chaos” and “disaster” in a picture dictionary, both would be illustrated with pictures of Iraq. Amazingly, in the midst of all this, Bush 43 got elected to a second term.

And now, with the mid-term elections behind us, it is finally dawning on the Bush 43 administration that what is needed is a thoughtful measured consensus in dealing with Iraq. And so the Iraq Study Group came to be. Headed by measured and thoughtful men from the Bush 41 administration, it now appears that a new direction will be taken in Iraq over the next two years… a Bush 41 direction.

Between the two of them, Bush 41 and 43 were elected for three terms. America is finally beginning to realize that two was probably too many for Bush 43 and one not enough for Bush 41…so maybe a term and a half each?