Silver Moments

Tom West, the hero of “The Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder once said to his assembled “Eagle” developers, “There are no golden moments.” This was meant to convey to them that winning (against FHP, the competing Data General computer being developed in Research Triangle Park, NC) does not happen in an instant of time. It was to be a continuous process with few, if any, “Eurekas!”
George W. Bush has had no golden moments in his presidency other than possibly his visit to the World Trade Center rubble after 9/11. However, he has had a series of smaller victories that are slowly outlining his legacy:

1) The swift defeat of the Al Qaida in Afganastan.
2) The realignment of America’s anti-terrorism efforts and the resultant hiatus in terrorist attacks inside the U.S.
3) The swift defeat of Iraq’s military.
4) The movement of the Supreme Court (and lower courts) back towards “original intent.”
5) GWB’s steadfastness in his pledge to create a democracy in Iraq and in our efforts to quell the Iraqi insurgency. (With the aim of modernizing Middle-East politics.)
6) The reproachment between Isreal and Palestine.
7) The movement of the Pakastani government back into our association of allies
8) The “blinking” of Libya’s Quadafi and his resultant WMD disarmament.
9) The backpeddling of Syria vis a vis its Lebanon and Iraq interferances.
10) As a result of aggressive tax cuts, the continued growth of U.S. economy after 9/11, the bursting of the internet bubble, a wide litany of corporate scandals, and a vexing series of natural disasters. This economic growth has also included substantial employment expansion (over 4.5 million increase) from the low point in early 2002.
11) Numerous indictments and convictions in these corporate scandals.
12) The rearrangement of our armed forces away from cold-war bilateral posturing towards defeating “asymmetric” terrorists threats.
13) Tort reform and the rationalization of bankruptcy laws.
14) The growing isolation of Iran in the free world because of its nuclear posturing.
15) Despite “Green” opposition, the slow but steady progress toward a cogent U.S. energy policy.
16) As a result of our insistence on multilateral talks with North Korea, progress toward the removal of its nuclear threat.
17) At our instigation, the rumblings of a critical organizational restructuring at the U.N.
18) The Central American Free-Trade Agreement.
19) Despite the Libby indictment, the Bush administration has been one of the least corrupt in the last fifty years.
20) A national awareness of the looming crisis in the Social Security System.
21) The No Child Left Behind national educational improvement program.
22) A gradual erosion of the blatant biases in the traditional left-wing media (probably more their doing than Bush’s).
23) The refocusing of the American electorate toward morality and patriotism.
24) Our large national commitment and efforts in the battle against AIDS in Africa
25) The Medicare Drug benefit (a dubious achievment).

This is not to say that Bush has not had his negatives: inattentiveness to the growing budget and trade deficites, our illegal immigrant problems, our poor relationships with Russia and China, and the proper vetting of some of his appointments. Hopefully, he, with Congress’s and his staff’s help, will start to fix these failings before the end of his second term … and flesh out some of the above positives