After George W. Bush witnessed the swearing in of Americas first African-American president Tuesday, he headed for Texas for a brief ceremonial stop in his former hometown of Midland.
Then he and wife Laura reboarded the presidential plane sent to carry him back to Texas, and headed on to his first night as a former president at his ranch near Crawford.
The stop in Midland was somewhat ceremonial. Not only was it his last stop before heading off to the White House after he was confirmed as president eight years ago; its also a place where he could face a welcoming and appreciative crowd.
As he demonstrated at a final press conference recently, he will also be reflecting on his legacy. Perhaps hell be wondering: will his tenure be judged primarily by the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that he authorized and leaves behind? Or by his administrations bungled response in 2005 to Hurricane Katrina? Or by the direst economic collapse since the Great Depression of the 1930s?
He cant help but hope that he is treated more kindly by historians in coming decades than he is by the public, where polls showed his approval rating had reached historic lows.
He well remembers that Democratic President Harry S Truman suffered from high disapproval when he left office in 1953, but over the years came to be judged much more positively.
The Austin American-Statesman recently noted in an editorial that even though it had endorsed him both times he ran for president, we dont deny the obvious: Bush as president failed, and that failure has hurt the nation.
Bushs White House website has sought to stress what he considers his achievements, listing dozens of them. Even some critics, like The New York Times editorial page, while panning his overall performance as president, nonetheless praised him for efforts in health care, including:
Stressing the nations interest in the global effort to control AIDS and fight malaria and tuberculosis around the world;
Pushing through a costly new prescription drug benefit under Medicare despite opposition from Republicans;
More than doubling federal financing for community health centers in areas where medical care otherwise is in short supply.
Bush credited his dramatic tax cuts with helping push an economic growth that saw jobs increase for 52 straight months. But critics contend his fiscal policies and relaxation of regulatory standards helped lead to the economic crisis.
Bush also pushed faith-based initiatives.
He takes credit for no additional successful assaults on the United States since the terrorists crashed hijacked airliners into the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.
After the attacks of 9/11, my mission was to protect the homeland and to put tools in place to enable future presidents to protect the homeland, Bush told Texas reporters in a Jan. 9 Oval Office conversation. And that has been accomplished. There hasnt been another attack.
The 9/11 attack boosted Bushs popularity, and his making the 2002 elections a referendum on him, even though he wasnt on the ballot, helped the GOP gain congressional seats.
But after Bush pushed for war in Iraq, that bloody, costly effort eventually soured for the public after the weapons of mass destruction cited to justify the invasion never materialized, and no connection was ever proven between the 9/11 attacks and the Saddam Hussein regime.
Bush, who had been a popular Texas governor, and teamed up with Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock and House Speaker Pete Laney, talked of taking bipartisanship to Washington. But despite initial partisan cooperation on the No Child Left Behind education act, Bush found there was no love-fest in the nations capitol like the one hed experienced in Texas.
Bush admitted failures on trying to privatize Social Security, and to get an immigration bill that was fought largely by Republicans in Congress.
But he has gotten high marks for his cooperation with the incoming Barack Obama administration on the transition, and from environmentalists for declaring several hundred square miles of territory around the Marianas Trench in the Pacific ocean, the deepest part of the ocean, a Marine National Monument.
Bush told the Texas reporters hell let history be the judge of his administration. I will tell you this. I have a great sense of accomplishment, and I am going home with my head held high.
After a few days on their Crawford ranch, the Bushes plan to move into another home they have purchased in Dallas. He indicated hell spend some time making speeches, and be a presence at his presidential library and institute to be built at Southern Methodist University.
Otherwise, he said at a Jan. 12 final press conference, Im getting off the stage. Ive had my time in the klieg lights.
