Sunday, January 11, 2009

President Bush and his regrets don't move me; still he was far from a bad president for our nation

Outgoing president George W. Bush told Texas reporters on Friday that he regretted not pushing for immigration reform after his re-election, thus dooming his political party to wreck itself on anti-immigrant xenophobia in the 2008 general election.

Bush has been expressing a lot of regrets as of late. I've interviewed the man twice, once in 2001 and another time in 2004 in the Oval Office on his birthday. That interview was one-on-one and immigration reform was a big topic. But so was education reform under the No Child Left Behind Act, which will be Bush's longest legacy of good.

As for immigration reform, it was not bad that he did not pass it. The worst was what he allowed to replace it -- punitive policies such as ICE raids and the inhumane 287g program. He allowed the head of the Department of Homeland Security and a few opportunistic Republican lawmakers to make him out to be a monster.

I can tell you personally that he is not. Bush is the most gracious man you'd ever want to meet. There is a sense of decency around him, despite several of his public policy and foreign policy initiatives going awry. The guy wanted to do good, and that counts for something. He also is a smart man. They don't give out Harvard MBAs to anyone who asks.

Bush's legacy will be neither good or bad -- for now. And I do not wish to be counted among the Bush haters, for their hatred blinds them to the complete truth and excuses the wrongs of their own political allies.

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