Back
during the dog days of 2005, Pres. George W. Bush rather upended his administration
when he had them assemble an action plan for a doomsday pandemic scenario. He
did not think the nation would use it during his term, but he presciently
foresaw its need in the not-so distant future. Fifteen years later, the current
administration dusted off the Bush plan, because that is what they had. Without
George W. Bush, things would be even worse during this CCP-virus crisis.
Unfortunately, that is the sort of greatly needed perspective that is largely
missing from American Experience’s two-part George W. Bush, which
premieres this Monday and Tuesday on PBS.
If
nothing else, American Experience pretty much definitively proves the
left-wing bias of the media, because the vast majority of its talking heads are
journalists, nearly all of whom are determined to keep litigating the Iraq War.
Time and again we were told there were no weapons of mass destruction when the
truth is more complicated. Even the New York Times reported considerable
discoveries of chemical weapons, which definitely qualified as WMDs—they just
weren’t WMD-enough for the media’s preferred narrative.
Fittingly,
AMEX starts with the fateful day of September 11th and then
flashes back to Bush’s formative years in Texas. To give credit where it is
due, co-writer-producers Barak Goodman & Chris Durrance and their on-screen
commentators are relatively sympathetic when addressing the awakening of
Christian faith that transformed Bush from a hard-drinking slacker into a
focused professional—with political aspirations. Of course, much is made of his
somewhat strained relationship with his father Bush 41, as one would expect,
with good reason.
The
AMEX profile is also quite strong when it chronicles Bush’s political
rise in Texas (particularly his wooing of Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock), his
PEPFAR campaign to treat AIDS in Africa (saving approximately 5 million lives,
according to estimates), and his handling of the financial crisis (in fact, the
talking heads are so laudatory, it will start to make many viewers suspicious).
Weirdly, the pivotal and defining period of 9/11 and its aftermath is handled
rather perfunctorily, like it embarrasses Goodman & Durrance to consider
the full implications of a coordinated terrorist attack that killed nearly
3,000 people.
Still,
there is no getting around the calcified biases that dominate the discussion of
the Iraq War, which in turn is the centerpiece of the AMEX profile.
Ironically, many of the journalists who criticize Bush for not examining his
preconceptions (which he in fact abandoned with his decision to initiate “the
Surge”) and engaging in public self-criticism, refuse to follow their own
prescription with respect to their Iraq coverage.
Frankly,
AMEX’s George W. Bush is probably more balanced than a lot of PBS
viewers would prefer, but it suggests it is probably too early for a measured and
balanced appraisal of Bush 43’s administration (even though it is sorely
needed). Let’s be honest, George W. Bush was the last president we’ve had who
really believed America could and should play a constructive role on the world
stage. In retrospect, the tandem of Obama and Trump has been especially
damaging, because they both followed a policy of retreat and disengagement.
Obama just couched it in terms of servile multilateralism, while Trump has used
the vocabulary of isolationism, but the net effect has been the same, leaving
China a free hand to dominate the South China Sea, Africa, and the
belt-and-road nations.
An
additional thing AMEX and company get right is Bush’s optimism. He understood
America lost its optimism since his the early years of his father’s
administration and he tried to re-instill it. He failed, but he was right to
try, because optimism makes us better as a people. Unfortunately, Clinton,
Obama, and Trump all did their best to weaponize pessimism during their
campaigns—and we’ve since paid a price as a nation. Frustratingly not recommended,
American Experience’s George W. Bush airs this Monday (5/4) and Tuesday
(5/5) on PBS stations nationwide.
