President George H. W. Bush called on us to be a “kinder, gentler nation.” Sadly, we are far from that ideal. Our politics has…
President George H. W. Bush called on us to be a “kinder, gentler nation.” Sadly, we are far from that ideal.
Our politics has never been that kind and gentle, to be sure, even in Bush’s day. Still, it has been unseemly to watch how some on both the right and the left have pounced on Bush’s passing as an opportunity to get in a dig at the current occupant of the Oval Office. Bush already is being used as a political cudgel.
No one would be more appalled by this than Bush himself. During the 1992 campaign, he faced personal attacks that he no doubt considered unfair. Yet on his last day as president, Bush left a note for the man who defeated him that read, “You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.”
It is a sentiment that the 41st president would surely have applied not just to his immediate successor, but also to all those who succeeded him as president. Today, many are praising Bush for this gesture, but too few seek to imitate it.
