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GHWB

His creation of the Gulf War Coalition was one of the great US foreign policy achievements. RIP
 
Obama:

It's a legacy of service that may never be matched, even though he'd want all of us to try.

After seventy-three years of marriage, George and Barbara Bush are together again now, two points of light that never dimmed, two points of light that ignited countless others with their example -- the example of a man who, even after commanding the world's mightiest military, once said "I got more of a kick out of being one of the founders of the YMCA in Midland, Texas back in 1952 than almost anything I've done."

What a testament to the qualities that make this country great. Service to others. Commitment to leaving behind something better. Sacrifice in the name of lifting this country closer to its founding ideals. Our thoughts are with the entire Bush family tonight -- and all who were inspired by George and Barbara's example.​
 
I was thinking about this tonight. In many ways, HW was the Republican version of Jimmy Carter. Southern, religious, devoted to family, reputation for putting service ahead of self. The kind of guy that people on both sides could respect as an elder statesman, even if they disagreed with him on policy while he was in the game. He really was one of the good ones. Now we are running out of good ones.
 
If our president was selected by an unbiased board of directors which based their choice solely on qualifications, GHWB would be the kind of person they would choose.
 
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If our president was selected by an unbiased board of directors which based their choice solely on qualifications, GHWB would be the kind of person they would choose.
Qualifications and performance in his assignments and jobs.
 
GHWB was the closest to a prototype President who held office in my lifetime. Personable enough to build important foreign and domestic relationships. Humble enough to compromise and make deals on important policy issues. Confident and decisive enough to take bold and risky actions. Honest and good enough to attract the affection of all who knew him. He could never fill a stadium with a speech, he could never motivate a crowd at a rally, he could never excoriate his political opponents, nor could he ever act on a grudge. Yet he had a noticeable resolve that you'd expect from a combat aviator.

Thanks for posting the letter he wrote to Bill Clinton. I was struck by "There will be very tough times made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair." My mind immediately flashed to the 1992 campaign and the incoming HW took from the right, left, and center as he lost that election. The lesson learned was that being highly competent and effective in office without showmanship was not enough to attract votes.

I met him once. Only briefly at a reception with many people. Even for those few moments, he made me feel like I was the only other person in the room.

We need more like him.

RIP.
 
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Excellent post.

GHWB was the closest to a prototype President who held office in my lifetime. Personable enough to build important foreign and domestic relationships. Humble enough to compromise and make deals on important policy issues. Confident and decisive enough to take bold and risky actions. Honest and good enough to attract the affection of all who knew him. He could never fill a stadium with a speech, he could never motivate a crowd at a rally, he could never excoriate his political opponents, nor could he ever act on a grudge. Yet he had a noticeable resolve that you'd expect from a combat aviator.

Thanks for posting the letter he wrote to Bill Clinton. I was struck by "There will be very tough times made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair." My mind immediately flashed to the 1992 campaign and the incoming HW took from the right, left, and center as he lost that election. The lesson learned was that being highly competent and effective in office without showmanship was not enough to attract votes.

I met him once. Only briefly at a reception with many people. Even for those few moments, he made me feel like I was the only other person in the room.

We need more like him.

RIP.
 
I also admire when he wrote in the note; "You will be our president when you read this." What a gentleman after such a tough campaign.

GHWB was the closest to a prototype President who held office in my lifetime. Personable enough to build important foreign and domestic relationships. Humble enough to compromise and make deals on important policy issues. Confident and decisive enough to take bold and risky actions. Honest and good enough to attract the affection of all who knew him. He could never fill a stadium with a speech, he could never motivate a crowd at a rally, he could never excoriate his political opponents, nor could he ever act on a grudge. Yet he had a noticeable resolve that you'd expect from a combat aviator.

Thanks for posting the letter he wrote to Bill Clinton. I was struck by "There will be very tough times made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair." My mind immediately flashed to the 1992 campaign and the incoming HW took from the right, left, and center as he lost that election. The lesson learned was that being highly competent and effective in office without showmanship was not enough to attract votes.

I met him once. Only briefly at a reception with many people. Even for those few moments, he made me feel like I was the only other person in the room.

We need more like him.

RIP.
 
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I really miss his Republican party.

A lot of great foreign policy achievements (end of Cold War, Gulf War I, reducing nuclear weapons), signed the ADA, assault weapons ban, expanded legal immigration, actually thought pollution was a problem.

There's obviously a lot of things in hindsight that you can nitpick that wouldn't hold up (whining about "Murphy Brown"), things he probably ordered while at the CIA that were immoral, the Willie Horton campaign ad.

But President George HW Bush was a war hero, a respectful guy who had compassion for people and put his country before party.
 
Bush was very much a resume president. He had served the country in many different capacities. What is interesting is that long tenure of working in and around government is now a negative. I do not think that change is good for America.
 
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Bush Sr. strikes me as really a patrician...the closest analog would be to a British Tory. Raised in wealth and privilege. Attended the finest schools. Not a particularly deep or clever fellow but with a deep sense of honor, patriotism and noblesse oblige. When he ran against Reagan and Reagan won the Republican Party made a big mistake as did the country. After that Bush was always out of step with the tribal right in ways that Reagan wasn't. The best parts of Bush's legacy are when he acted consonant with his patrician Tory values--essentially a neo-liberal technocrat. But Bush sacrificed a good deal of that when he joined Reagan's administration and when he subsequently ran for election himself in 1988 with Lee Atwater's racist campaign. He also paid a price for catering to the hard right money guys who were all about killing government that forced him to take the stupid "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. He was already way out of step with the GOP early into the Clinton administration. Bush will probably be best known for the first Iraq war. Given the subsequent history of the region it is not much of a legacy. I would say that Bush was much more a victim of history than a shaper of it.
That’s just the kind of nontribute tribute I expected from you. I voted for Carter, but it turned out that Reagan and GHW Bush were exactly what this country needed at the time. I was never more satisfied with my Presidential vote as when I voted for Reagan and Bush in 1984, 1988 and 1992, even as I voted for Democrats down ballot in each race. I consider them 2 of the top 3 Presidents in my lifetime. The 3rd is a Democrat, but you can guess which one. I’m certain you don’t have any Republicans on your list.
 
Republican policies have exploded income inequality and supercharged corruption and decimated the environment and degraded civil rights and produced an epidemic of gun violence...and that is just a domestic accounting. Making a bunch of white guys feel like it is morning in America just doesn't count for much on the upside.
Even if that was all true, and I don’t remotely think it is, you’d have to believe that they were goals of Reagan and Bush to be so disrespectful of them as Presidents. Like Presidents Obama and Clinton, I think Presidents GHW Bush and Reagan were patriotic Americans who did what they believe best for America. I think they were remarkably successful as well. That part, you can disagree with, but if you think Reagan and Bush didn’t have good intentions for America you’re being the hopeless partisan I’ve come to believe you are. I’d like to be wrong.
 
That’s just the kind of nontribute tribute I expected from you. I voted for Carter, but it turned out that Reagan and GHW Bush were exactly what this country needed at the time. I was never more satisfied with my Presidential vote as when I voted for Reagan and Bush in 1984, 1988 and 1992, even as I voted for Democrats down ballot in each race. I consider them 2 of the top 3 Presidents in my lifetime. The 3rd is a Democrat, but you can guess which one. I’m certain you don’t have any Republicans on your list.
Of course Bush was obviously a lot deeper and more clever than the one you replied to.
 
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Even if that was all true, and I don’t remotely think it is, you’d have to believe that they were goals of Reagan and Bush to be so disrespectful of them as Presidents. Like Presidents Obama and Clinton, I think Presidents GHW Bush and Reagan were patriotic Americans who did what they believe best for America. I think they were remarkably successful as well. That part, you can disagree with, but if you think Reagan and Bush didn’t have good intentions for America you’re being the hopeless partisan I’ve come to believe you are. I’d like to be wrong.

It's embarrassinly clear that he's lost it. A single man has ruined the lives of many coolerites.

I wasn't a fan of BO and even less so, Carter, but I wouldn't inject my partisanship into a thread memorializing their life out of respect and common decency.
 
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43's eulogy for his father. No matter where you stand politically, to me this was both heartwarming and heartbreaking (especially the end). We should all be so lucky to properly say and hear our goodbyes in those final moments.


The funeral audience contrary to custom broke Into applause following GWB"s heartfelt tribute to his Father. There were several moving memories before GWB, but the audience remained silent as per tradition.

The spontaneous reaction was a recognition of how hard it was for GWB to give his talk without breaking down. GWB did falter at the very end as he spoke about his Dad being reunited with Sister Robin and Mother Barbara. Those tears in closing contrasted with his otherwise exemplary ability to rise to the challenge.

Today we are members of the Bush family and especially proud of Brother George.
 
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