I picked up “Truman” by David McCullough, at a used book shop and thought it would be a good book to have, but I couldn’t imagine a duller subject than Harry S. Truman, but why was it such a thick book? I wondered if I would ever read it. I paid my $4.50 and took it home. About a year later I actually read it. And absolutely loved it. Times were tough for Truman, who became President by default. He was elected for a second term and was faced with strikes, war, peace talks, and more talks, he was faced with the middle east/Palestine issue, dropping the bomb, the potential downfall of the economy and the post WWII building of the economy. He was a hero one day in the media and a villain the next. He was called simple, incompetent, delusional and many other demeaning names. Yet he saved our country from global catastrophic circumstances and national debilitating consequences. He was seen by the public many times exactly the opposite of who he really was and what his intentions really were. But he remained true to his values and sense of duty no matter how the media portrayed him and therefore what the public thought of him. As far as foreign affairs went, the President cannot be an effective Commander-in-chief if information is public, so why does the media and the citizens of our country have the gall to demean our president and his decisions based on what we think we know. As you may have gathered I felt this biography had a repeated history of our time under the watch of President George W. Bush. He faced many of the same challenges and had to make many tough decisions in a hostile environment from the Congress and sometimes the world. Karl Rove wrote, “These tough decisions—which became unpopular in certain quarters only when memories of 9/11 began to fade—kept America safe for seven years and made it possible for Mr. Obama to tell the Terrorists…”we will defeat you.” The war in Iraq has been won and we are a safer country because of it.As far as the home front goes, Mr. Bush cut taxes for those who pay them, and he cut taxes on capital and investment savings, which meant economic growth. We have the strongest economy of any developed country. He warned against the growing largeness of Frank and Freddy. He felt they had too much power and knew the consequences would be dire if they fell. He was not listened to. And he was right.
There are many things Mr. Bush did right. I feel very strongly that he served our country well and lived up to the ideals we have held precious as a country for more than two centuries now. “He was right to stand for a culture of life. And he was right to appoint conservative judges who strictly interpret the Constitution. And Mr. Bush a man of core decency and integrity was right not to reply in kind when Democratic leaders called him a liar and a loser. The price of trying to change the tone in Washington was to be often pummeled by lesser men. “ (Karl Rove-Wall Street Journal) No president gets everything right. But I believe George W. Bush got the big things right. God bless him.
And God bless President Barak Obama. He deserves our prayers like all those who went before him. It’s not an easy job. I think he’s discovered that already.
