Bush Regrets

In his first television one-on-one interview on CNN since the elections, President George W. Bush expressed his regrets over certain things he has said and done during the last eight years. In particular he mentioned "Dead or Alive!", "Bring'em on!" and the incident on a US warship shortly after the Iraq invasion in which a sign became an ironic emblem for the entire progress of the war since: "Mission Accomplished."

I think the remarks above are the closest George W. Bush has come to "apologizing" and his disarming candor will be noted by many, along with his genuine praise for President-elect Barack Obama. There was however, no news at all about how things actually went between Laura Bush (maroon) and Michelle Obama (flaming red)...Bush said he was sorry that "his choice" John McCain lost the 2008 presidential election but did not admit he was one of the reasons for it. (That is painfully obvious anyway.) But Bush struck absolutely the right note by hailing Barack Obama's convincing election victory as an historic moment, a day that "many people never thought they would see." Indeed the ginormity of the victors' mandate makes it absolutely honorable for the losers to concede and accept defeat with dignity and offer genuine congratulations. Bush did more than that by offering and arranging a smooth and effective transition to the incoming administration team.

Asked how the visit between George and Laura and Barack and Michelle went, Bush was firmly tightlipped about "advice on foreign and domestic issues" he might have given the President-elect, but he was quite sincere--almost in shock and awe--in praising Barack Obama as the father of two lovely daughters who was concerned during the visit about how they would take to life in the White House, their surroundings for the next four years. Bush seemed to admire and acknowledge Barack Obama's family values, and opined that this would be an important part of his Presidency.

Bush recalled how the Clintons once welcomed them to the White House in 2000 and he told Bubba, "You didn't have to do this!" In according the same graciousness to the Obamas, Dubya strengthens the American tradition of peaceful, even convivial transitions of power at the top. Moreover, I got the impression that Bush genuinely supports the president-elect and hopes he will be successful.

Martin Luther King would be smiling right about now, not crying like Jesse Jackson, now that even the cynical have seen the Promised Land, and the people have judged a leader, not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.

The triumph of Barack Obama is indeed not a "black victory"--one wag even claimed it to be the victory of white supremacists over their own racism! It is in truth a triumph of the entire American people in overcoming the mental illness of racial prejudice and discrimination, a redemption of centuries-old American ideals which "hold it to be self-evident that all men are created equal."