Bush has acknowledged that if he is vindicated in the Middle East, it will not happen while he is president, nor even in his lifetime – like Truman, who died nearly two decades before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
George W. Bush has reconciled himself to the reality that he will leave the White House an unpopular president. Call me sentimental, but I find something admirable, even moving, about the man’s stoic ability to do what he feels is right and to put country, and even the world, above himself.
The most unpopular president in modern history? – so be it. He quietly, humbly does nothing to toot his own horn, with no concern for legacy and no team of handlers trying to make him look good.
Like the man from Independence, Missouri, the man from Midland, Texas will be content with no ticker-tape parade, and (likely) with never living to see the fruits of his labor.