The Dangers of Nostalgia: Why We Should Not Romanticize The Bush Era

By: Rachel Riddell

PHOTO CREDIT: ERIC DRAPER/THE WHITE HOUSE VIA GETTY IMAGES

As the United States enters a new political chapter with the inauguration of 46th President Joe Biden, the actions of past administrations have begun to fall out of the memory of the general public. This is stark in the case of George W. Bush, whose reputation has seen attempts of rehabilitation in the media from both the left and right of the political spectrum. From being friends with Ellen Degeneres to his love for painting, the 43rd President is often depicted as a harmless elderly man. While this image may be especially resonating as the world is reflecting on President Donald Trump’s tyrannical governance, these optics should not distract citizens from the chaos of Bush’s administration, and the implications of it that still linger today. This is especially evident in his reckless military interventions and erratic handling of Hurricane Katrina.

The most horrific event of the Bush administration was arguably the reckless and brash decision of invading Iraq. Bush exploited the fears and impending Islamophobia of Americans –– as a consequence of the September 11 attacks –– to enter a war with Iraq, despite 9/11 having no correlation to the country-atlarge. Scholars have theorized a multitude of reasons as to why the Bush administration invaded Iraq, and many of these motives go far beyond mere retaliation for 9/11. One of the notorious causes for the war, intellectuals have suggested, was for the United States to maintain its monopoly over oil. Raymond Hinnebusch for the journal Critical Middle Eastern Studies writes that “the US, far from paying the costs of the politicization of oil, has managed to use Middle East crises to reinforce its hegemony while offloading their main costs onto others.” The Iraq War was a vehicle in which the United States exercised their dominance over oil, while subsequently terrorizing the lands that they entered.

The irony of the United States’ armed conflict in Iraq supposedly defending the violence on their homeland could not be more blatant when considering the death toll. While the number of Iraqi civilian deaths is still difficult to gage, there has been statistical research in recent years to calculate adequate estimations. A 2013 analysis created by Iraqi, Canadian and American researchers for PLOS medicine found that “approximately 405,000 (95% uncertainty interval 48,000—751,000) excess deaths [are] attributable to the conflict.” It is worthy to note that this analysis only recognized deaths up until 2011: the site Iraq Body Count (IBC) estimates that there were 82,000 additional civilian deaths resulting from the conflict in Iraq. While financial interests and capitalistic pursuits spurred the Bush administration to initiate war, innocent Iraqis with no stake in this dilemma lost their lives. United States citizens, too, suffered from this war: Muslim Americans have spoken out against the rise in discrimination against their religion during and after the war. Aman Agah of Manassas, Virginia recalls his father “who taught [him] to stand up to bigotry, now feared not just the police, but American strangers in general” due to the conflict overseas infiltrating the American psyche with Islamophobic sentiments. By investigating both the causes and aftermath of the Iraq War, it becomes clear that in modern times we should not dismiss the controversies of Bush’s administration as trivial, even in comparison to Trump.

Another crucial factor in better comprehending Bush’s problematic legacy is his response to Hurricane Katrina. The 2005 natural disaster displaced thousands of people from their homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and it is estimated that more than 1000 people died as a result. While devastated Americans pleaded for help and government support in accessing basic resources, the President remained apathetic. It is reported that Bush continued his vacation at his luxurious ranch in his home state of Texas when the disaster struck. The president, after pleas from his aides, returned to Washington two days after Katrina first arrived –– ending his notoriously long 29 day vacation. His delayed response to the hurricane is widely remembered by the public sphere in Kanye West’s accusation during a live fundraiser for Katrina victims: “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” While the quote is often recalled in a humorous light, however, it should not distract from the feelings of neglect –– from their own president –– that many Black individuals faced during this crisis. Jacobin Magazine reports that in New Orleans –– one of the cities that underwent the greatest effects of the hurricane –– “in some areas the death rate for black residents was as much as four times higher than that of nonblack residents.” A Pew Research Center poll reflects the disparity that Black people felt in Bush’s inadequacy after the hurricane: “Just 19% of blacks rated the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina as excellent or good, compared with 41% of whites. And nearly three times as many whites (31%) as blacks (11%) said then-President George W. Bush did all he could to get relief efforts going quickly.” During one of the most destructive natural disasters in American history, George W. Bush demonstrated an attitude of aloofness, which should not be glossed over in assessing his presidency.

From the impulsive decision to invade Iraq to the failures in sufficiently helping Americans after Hurricane Katrina, George W. Bush and his administration should not be romanticized. Despite the inclinations of both Democrats and Republicans to rehash his presidency as a relatively calm period, it is important to thoroughly examine his time in office so that amnesia regarding a detrimental past does not emerge. While Donald Trump was undoubtedly an unprecedented figure to sit in the Oval Office, nostalgia for Bush’s era should not occur as a result when considering his dangerous legacy.