Help, Bush's People Are Back!

Their names are Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove, John Bolton and Dan Senor. Prominent figures of the last Republican administration, they have resumed service under Mitt Romney’s banner and do not hide their new ambitions.

If Clint Eastwood’s hallucinatory intervention at the Republican convention almost overshadowed Mitt Romney’s nomination as the presidential candidate (SEE HERE), then the absence of another cowboy has not gone unnoticed. Indeed, the 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush (SEE HERE), had politely declined the invitation to attend since July. Having “crawled out of the swamp” of politics, he indicated that he had no intention of diving in again. There’s no doubt that the organizers did not push hard for him to change his mind. In any case, the name of the former president was rarely mentioned in Tampa.

From among all the speakers, only Jeb Bush, his brother and former Florida governor, tried to defend him in a speech focused on education. A short clip was also broadcast to honor George W. Bush and his father George Herbert Walker Bush who, suffering from a form of Parkinson’s disease, was unable to make the trip to Florida. But that was about it. It is clear that the presidency of George W. Bush is an embarrassment for any Republican candidate. Bush’s legacy, from his foreign policy record and its troublesome symbols (such as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo) to his disastrous fiscal policies, is problematic at a time when Republicans have vowed to return to financial orthodoxy. “We want to stand out from the Obama presidency as much as from, frankly, the previous presidency,”* said Paul Ryan, Romney’s running mate. During the eight years of the Bush era, the U.S. national debt actually increased by $4.9 trillion. According to a recent Washington Post poll, 54 percent of Americans hold Bush responsible for the country’s economic problems as opposed to 38 percent who blame Obama.** It’s a sinister coincidence: Hurricane Isaac, which disrupted the convention in Tampa, recalled Bush’s shameful hesitation when another hurricane called Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005.

Behind the Scenes

However, the Republicans have not yet finished with Bush. The main advisers in his administration play a leading role in the current Republican campaign. Foremost among them is Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state who at one time was predicted to appear alongside Romney on the Republican ticket. In Tampa, she violently attacked Obama for his lack of leadership on the international stage and received a standing ovation. Condi was quite daring. Wasn’t she directly involved — no doubt less than others, but involved nonetheless — in Bush’s foreign policy mistakes?

Rove was the specialist of dirty tricks and attacks below the belt. He has remained the same.

Backstage, Karl Rove, former Republican strategist and, according to some, the damned soul of GWB, also plays a leading role. He is probably the man that Democrats hate the most on account of his total unscrupulousness. Since leaving the White House in 2007 — and after “crossing the desert”*** — he founded one of the most powerful political action committees in the country with the brothers Charles and David Koch. These so-called “super PACs” can contribute unlimited campaign financing.

Sunglasses

Called American Crossroads, Rove’s super PAC raised $51 million in 2011. (In comparison, the most important Democratic super PAC only raised $6 million.) Its aim is to increase this amount to $240 million by November. American Crossroads (and therefore Rove) is behind some of the campaign’s most controversial commercials. The latest portrays Obama as a ridiculous rock star with sunglasses and a frequent guest on TV shows. In Tampa, where oil lobbies, financial giants and super PACs were well represented, Rove was highly courted by Republican delegates. It is true that American Crossroads, which greatly contributed to the Republicans’ success in the midterm elections of Nov. 2010, will put all its weight behind the presidential and congressional elections of Nov. 2012.

Also found in Romney’s inner circle are people like the very neoconservative John Bolton. He was the ambassador to the United Nations during the Bush administration, and it has been suggested that he will become secretary of state if Romney is elected. Another member of this inner circle is notorious Bush supporter Dan Senor, who directly inspired Romney’s recent comments in Jerusalem on the alleged cultural superiority of the Israelis. The Republican candidate has also secured the services of a former director of the private security company that became emblematic of the Bush years: Blackwater, renamed Xe Services, which was made famous by its blunders in Iraq.

Highly criticized in their time, Reagan and Clinton ended up getting out of purgatory. And if Bush were to do the same?

The truth is that we are witnessing an attempt, albeit still timid, by leading Bush supporters like former vice president Dick Cheney to rehabilitate the Bush administration’s image. At the beginning of this year, Cheney received a heart transplant and was de facto removed from public life. Nevertheless, he recently published a memoir in the form of a panegyric praising Bush. More surprisingly, Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the U.N., praised Bush in his latest autobiographical work for his resolute action against HIV/AIDS, even if he hid nothing about their disagreements over Iraq and Palestine.

Interventionist

Hasn’t Obama himself led a Bush-inspired policy in Afghanistan, a policy marked by the systematic use of drones? According to a reporter from The New York Times, this is what his predecessor had advised him to do in 2008 during the handover ceremony. And as we know, the Guantanamo detention camp still hasn’t been closed. As for Romney, do not talk. He is a die-hard interventionist, resolved to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

So, will Bush soon be out of purgatory? Before him, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, though highly criticized during their years in office, were able to do so. For Bush as well as for those who defected from his administration, it would be quite the revenge. But it wouldn’t be good news for the world!

* Editor’s note: The original quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified in English.

**Editor’s note: The poll, attributed to The Washington Post in the original article, was actually conducted by CNN.

***Editor’s note: This is an idiom that means to retreat from public life.