Who Got What Right?

That was the question I found myself asking when I saw the title of the article that had caught my eye; it was by Fareed Zakaria, Editor of Newsweek International whose column appears in Newsweek, Newsweek International and The Washington Post. I also knew, from other things that I have read by him, that he is not a Bush supporter in any sense of the word. So what was this, "What George Bush Got Right" all about? As I read, the message got clearer, while Bush has been and in many ways still is one of the worst, if not the worst president this country has ever had, he was finally forced to make some changes that began with the firing of Paul Wolfowitz from his position as president of the World Bank, not that he had a lot of choice with that one, and replaced him with Robert Zoellick, who is highly qualified and respected. And apparently Dick Cheney is no longer the super poster boy for the administration and today policy is being decided by the more pragmatic ones, such as Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, Stephen Hadley and Hank Paulson. According to Mr. Zakaria, change has not extended to all areas and in many places much more was needed, but there was a shift to the center in much of their policy.

Mr. Zakaria was not defending George Bush and recognizes the enormous errors the Bush Administration has made, looking back I realized that Bush has changed his tune on a number of issues such as North Korea and China, but it’s all been too little, too late. And it’s not just the foreign policies; it’s the fiscal irresponsibility that has created a $4 trillion hit on this country’s balance sheet.

Whoever the next president is, he will inherit not only the problems here in this country, but worldwide. He needs to take a long look at the Bush Administration to make sure he can continue, strengthen and increase the timid modifications that Bush at least started even though it was way too little, way too late. Let’s hope he has the vision to see not only America’s interests, but beyond and do the right thing for this country, for the people, the world beyond and our future. That’s a big order for anyone. Maybe Bush finally did do a few things right, but once again, it was too little, too late and that probably should have been the title of this post. But whatever, it does mean that whoever winds up winning this election more than has his work cut out for him and I personally do not feel that a doddering McCain is the answer we’re all hoping for.