BUSH GETS INTROSPECTIVE…. George W. Bush appeared in Chicago yesterday, speaking at a conference for a finance trade association, and talked a bit about his upcoming book — which will be published the week after the midterm elections. There was one point from the Chicago Tribune‘s report, however, that stood out for me.
Of his legacy, Bush said he “would like to be remembered as a guy who had a set of priorities and was willing to live by those priorities.”
“In terms of accomplishments, my biggest accomplishment is that I kept the country safe amid a real danger,” he said.
I hate to be a stickler about such things, but that’s not quite right. As I recall, amid a real danger, quite a few national security catastrophes happened — including the attacks of 9/11, the anthrax attacks against Americans, terrorist attacks against U.S. allies, the terrorist attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During the summer of 2001, against the backdrop of reports of a pending al Qaeda attack, a CIA official traveled to Bush’s summer getaway to call the president’s attention personally to the now-famous Aug. 6, 2001, memo titled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US.” Bush reportedly heard the briefer out and replied, “All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.”
His biggest accomplishment was keeping the country safe amid a real danger?
