The Tangible Power Of Change

There is now in this country a concerted effort being made to revise the history of the President George W. Bush and his administration. In some kind of ham handed Orwellian manner Bush officials and operatives are trying to sell the last 8 years of being full of peace, prosperity, and security and they are trying to sell Bush as a strong, competent leader. Well good luck with that. Unfortunately for them we aren't living in Orwell's 1984 and there are external clues that we can consider that aren't subject to any revisionist history in this country. One of the most notable examples is the disdain that the international community has had for George Bush and the contrast in their willingness to actually work with incoming President Elect Barack Obama. In the Washington Post today we find an article about the member nations in the E.U. who are eager to work with Obama on closing GITMO by offering some of the prisoners housed there asylum in their country. From the article.

European nations have begun intensive discussions both within and among their governments on whether to resettle detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a significant overture to the incoming Obama administration, according to senior European officials and U.S. diplomats.

The willingness to consider accepting prisoners who cannot be returned to their home countries, because of fears they may be tortured there, represents a major change in attitude on the part of European governments. Repeated requests from the Bush administration that European allies accept some Guantanamo Bay detainees received only refusals.

The Bush administration "produced the problem," Karsten Voigt, coordinator of German-American cooperation at the German Foreign Ministry, said in a telephone interview. "With Obama, the difference is that he tries to solve it."

snip

"I believe the new administration will have the conditions to create a new dynamic of cooperation," Amado said. He noted that when he first raised the issue of Guantanamo Bay at a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers about seven months ago, some countries resisted assisting the Bush administration.

Note that last line. There were countries in the EU who didn't want to offer asylum to detainees in GITMO, not because they didn't want to help America, but instead because specifically they didn't want to help George Bush. There is a running meme pushed by conservative pundits and talking heads that history will be kind to President Bush. Well someone should tell them that history isn't just written in this country anymore. No matter how many false platitudes are showered upon President Bush, no matter how many self serving books are written about President Bush, no matter how many talking heads get on the Tee Vee and gloss over war crimes for President Bush, the world will not forget what a failure his presidency was. His legacy will not only haunt him for the rest of his life, but also will haunt our nation until we can rebuild our reputation around the world. Thankfully, our election of President Elect Obama seems to be a good first start.