Delusions of Grandeur

In a recent interview with his sister, Dora Bush Koch, President George W. Bush stated that he would like to be remembered as the president “who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace” in Iraq. I am unsure how to even get passed this initial statement to comment on the rest of the interview. Invading a country under false pretenses, at the cost of thousands of American soldier and Iraqi civilian lives and doing so under the protest of the UN does not a grand legacy make. He claims that he came into office “with a set of values…and leaving with the same set of values”.
Bush has stated that his ‘No Child Left Behind’ program was also one of his greatest achievements. He was quoted as saying “The promise of No Child Left Behind has been fulfilled," it sounds like he was given misinformation on this front too. A program that started out with good intentions but ended being widely criticized by the very people it set out to help and managed to close down schools in the most needed parts of the country.
I have to believe that every dark cloud has a silver lining and the Bush administrations came in the form of Laura Bush. A person who did truly hold stead fast to the beliefs she came with and used her position for the greater good. The work she did with the women of Afghanistan and with the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, are the sort of acts one would expect to be linked back to the most powerful country in world.
Now, while I am hopeful for the new administration, I also fear the atrocity that the old one has left behind. The exit of the Bush administration will be bitter/sweet. It’s sort of like that old car you never get rid of. It always breaks down, leaks oil and the A/C doesn’t ever work quite right, but at least you already know that you’re going to be disappointed when you jump in behind the wheel.
Fair well President Bush we, as a country, took the plunge and traded in for a more eco-friendly model.