The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace

This a great article by Wall Street Journal journalist Jeffery Scott Shapiro.

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support
of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after
George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless
disrespect many Americans have shown the president.

APAccording to recent Gallup polls, the president’s average approval rating is
below 30% — down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has
endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the
right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats
and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to
voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, “Today, I want to
speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger
and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do
all I can do to deserve your trust.”

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both
political parties.

The president’s original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed
Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His
solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional
conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who
have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.

It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He
remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.

Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country’s current problems either
existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control.
Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came
together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would
actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.

Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, “We have one country, one
Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work
together, there is no limit to the greatness of America.”

To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him
in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own
approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr.
Truman’s low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked
the seventh most popular president in history.

Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman’s
presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the
hardship President Bush faced these past eight years — and how extraordinary
it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11
attacks.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less
than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and
slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have.
The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in
America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our
nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not
gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can
be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and
weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White
House.

Mr. Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned
with John F. Kerry’s legal team during the presidential election in 2004.