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As we leave the Trump behind, I think it is critical to think about the Bush II years as we chart a path forward. 12 years after W left office, & his low profile post-presidency, it is easy to forget that W has a stronger claim than Trump on being the worst modern US President.
This is not to downplay the 1000s dead from COVID, kids in cages, January 6th, or the other disasters of the Trump years but to remember that W started the forever war in Afghanistan, lied his way to war w/ Iraq, & the Great Recession. All this while being very "presidential."
Indeed many of the hacks who populated the Trump administration & defended him on FOX (and other outlets) got their bones during the Bush years either working for W or for his allies in Congress. The same things were being said by conservatives, just more quietly & w/ more grace.
In 2008 Obama repudiated a failed Republican President by a larger margin than Biden did Trump & there was much talk about conservatism being cast into the political wilderness for a generation, as in 1932. This, as we all know, did not happen. Conservatives rallied quickly.
That rally was helped along by Obama's deep, knee jerk commitment to bipartisanship & willingness to meet a Republican Party half-way in good faith, when Republicans were not willing to extend the same good faith. The 2009-2010 Democratic gov't accomplished a lot but not enough.
What 2021 has to learn from 2009 is that Democrats need to push through their policy goals with out pre-compromising w/ Republicans. The systemic problems exposed by COVID & Trump cannot be solved by solutions offered on the terms set by Republicans & conservatives.
It is also important to remember that Trumpism may have been cast out of power but it is not in the political wilderness. Considering how awfully Bushism transformed into Trumpism from 2010 to 2016, who the hell knows how toxic conservatism will get during Biden years.
Conservatives have been fed half a century (if not longer!) on a steady diet of conspiratorial thinking about left and liberals. Things have gotten steadily worse over the last generation. Unity on terms set by this movement will not bring the justice Biden spoke about today.
My dearest hope is that the Biden Administration learns these & other lessons from the failures (and successes!) of the Obama years and particularly its transition from the utter failure of W in 2006-2008.
