I gave my farewell to the president here and my ranking here. Today National Review does it.
Roger Kimball has the best one:
When the United States was attacked by al-Qaeda on 9/11, every expert in Alpha Centauri solemnly announced that it was only a matter of time—and not much time, either—before the United States was attacked again. Well, here we are some seven and a half years later and, guess what, it hasn’t happened. I know people—you see what low company I keep—who will tell you with a straight face that President Bush had nothing to do with this run of good luck. “Post hoc,” they sniff, “doesn’t necessarily mean propter hoc, and if America has thus far escaped another terrorist attack, there is no reason to think that W had anything to do with it.” No sane person, I submit, really believes that. Deep down, we all know that the reason the United States has not suffered another terrorist attack is the policies formulated by the president in the aftermath of 9/11. Protecting the country from external enemies is the number-one priority of the commander-in-chief. It is for his tireless pursuit of that task that I am eternally grateful to George W. Bush. Thank you.
Amen to that. They also seem to agree with me on his presidential ranking. They are not as optimistic as the Morning Joe crowd:
Liberals, including historians who ought to know better, have said that Bush might be the country’s worst president ever. That judgment reflects the partisan hysteria that gripped liberals throughout the Bush years. We would place him in the middle ranks of American presidents. It is a pity he did not do better; we are about to do worse.
Carter or Arthur? We will see.
