What Bush Got Right

The organization of the US governing system, with its checks and balances, encourages moderation. Policies from US President George Bush that raised international ire largely emerged during the first presidential term, including a war on terror with invasion of Iraq as its centerpiece, refusal to negotiate with Iran or North Korea, neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “His decision to blindly repudiate anything associated with Bill Clinton is what got us into this mess in the first place,” explains Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria. For all practical purposes, many early policies have since been reversed, modified or abandoned. The next US president must work to correct lingering errors of the Bush administration – counterproductive homeland security measures that contribute to extremism along with reckless deficit spending and shortsighted energy policies that weaken the US economy. But the Bush administration has adjusted tack in many areas, and Zakaria urges the next president not to repeat the mistake of spontaneously rejecting any policy from his predecessor. – YaleGlobal