Can we get a little help here?

Step One: Lay the Groundwork

CNN (^^) had a story on its front page that I can't help but think is there way of starting a long-term project, one that from a journalistic & narrative perspective, is pure gold.

George W Bush isn't very well regarded right now. His Presidency and Administration are seen as among the worst America has ever had. The economy is a mess, near collapse. We have to open-ended ground conflicts, one way and the other an exercise in (futile?) nation-building. On top of that is the existential War on Terror, fought between ideologies and by soldiers and diplomats on one side, exploding combatants on the other. Our freedoms are being oppressed, I have been told not to say. Hurricane Katrina wrecked a city that still smells three years later. Bad news.

So can the dialogue be turned?

The article cites Harry Truman, and I'd also mention JFK and Carter. The latter two Presidents, as Presidents, weren't very good. While positive steps were taken in both, Carter's rightfully led to economic halt and foreign policy neutering; JKF's unfinished term was marked by a terrible first year and not much to show after that. History remembers JFK well because he died well, and his legacy inspired LBJ's Great Society and the Civil Rights Act, among other landmark social legislation. Carter introduced a sort of ground-level liberalism that has taken hold in any number of ways, chief being groups like Habitat for Humanity, and he for better or worse made Energy such an issue that it deserved a cabinet-level position (expansion of government that, in the long run, was a good idea).

And GWBush?

No Child Left Behind can be fixed.

Iraq can be salvaged, or, we can hope it becomes a stable, self-supporting democracy.

Afghanistan can grow at least tobacco instead of opium (ho ho!), maybe other agro-goods. Surely they can stop stoning women.

The economy will recover, people will remember the highest the DJIA ("The Dow") ever reached was under his Administration. They will also remember that the mortgage crisis preceded his two terms, in its nascent stages.

Hurricane response will never be so slow. Not a mark out of his negative column, but a good lesson difficultly learned.

Technically, our freedoms are freer than ever. Have you ever heard of a country that could let a major author publish a book calling for the sitting president to be prosecuted for 4,000+ murders, much less a book that was distributed to all the chains, indy stores and the magical world of cyberspace? There is no censorship.

The story could go on, but much hinges on a number of varied factors beyond not only Bush's but all our our control. I don't disagree that many of you think he doesn't deserve redemption in the eyes of history. "Torture," Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Cheney - these are things he unleashed on us that many of you cannot forgive.

But can your children?

-Hooper