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Bush Country in Word and Deed
By Horace Cooper
March 8, 2004

At the Sept. 20, 2001 joint session of Congress, President Bush proclaimed, "I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people." And in his latest book, "Bush Country" John Podhoretz reminds us that in George W. Bush, America has a leader committed to America and its values. He is a leader which history will single out for greatness.

As we conservatives learned from eight years of the Clinton administration, greatness matters. Bush faces challenges greater than that of the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan combined. That challenge is global terrorism supported by religious fanatics; fanatics who are not afraid of dying and who target the most innocent and vulnerable. And as Podhoretz demonstrates in this literary home run, "Bush Country," Bush has risen to the occasion.

"Bush Country" is wonderfully entertaining and refreshingly well-reasoned. Liberals will be enraged and conservatives will be enraptured with chapter titles such as "Crazy Liberal Idea #2 Bush is a Fanatic; Crazy Liberal Idea #4 Bush is Hitler .... Only Not as Talented, etc." Using logic and concrete examples throughout Podhoretz explains how Bush has made his mark in history while "driving liberals crazy."

Consider the things Bush has accomplished in three short years: he led the U.S. military into two wars in such a remarkable fashion they will be used as a blueprint for armed conflict for a generation. His military campaign successfully decapitated two of the world's most brutal regimes and has led to dramatic changes in Libya, Iran and North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Also Bush was able to push massive across the board tax cuts through Congress. As Podhoretz explains, "having campaigned for the presidency calling himself a 'reformer with results,' once in office he changed the way the elderly Americans get their health care and pay for their prescription drugs." He revamped the federal education program by imposing a new doctrine of accountability and interjected himself into the "profound philosophical" issue of stem-cell research and came up with a solution that would make Solomon proud.

He's pushed forward serious reform-minded judges who understand their role is to interpret the law, not to amend, rewrite or create it. And when the Senate has balked over his nominations, he's had the temerity to make recess appointments.

After Sen. Jim Jeffords, from Vermont, ill-fated party switch, Bush made the 2002 mid-terms a referendum on his administration and successfully wrested control of the Senate from the Democrats. Historic Republican gains in both the House and the Senate were almost unprecedented in the 20th century.

And lest anyone think that Podhoretz is a GOP flack or Bush sycophant, think again. Podhoretz was a McCain supporter in 2000 and author of "Hell of a Ride" a biting critique of the first Bush administration. No, "Bush Country" justifies itself by the record of accomplishment of by our president.

It was George W. Bush who signed the "partial birth" abortion ban that Clinton vetoed twice and who also has arrested the nation's economic anemia in its tracks. The stock indexes are rapidly approaching their record highs of three years ago and unemployment steadily inches downward. The recession is over and the economy's growth is beginning in earnest.

Leaving no stone unturned, Podhoretz even focuses on the latest political punching bag, the Patriot Act, perhaps the "most outrageously caricatured aspect of the war on terror" Podhoretz explains that it is simply an example of irrational leftwing hatred. The single most defamed section of the Patriot Act, section 215 "is entirely within the bounds of the Constitution" because "the section requires judicial approval." No matter what critics may say, the federal government may walk into a library or school or business and demand records. The government "must first convince the court that oversees anti-terror investigations that the documents are relevant."

But there's more to this book. "Bush Country" reveals Bush to be a master of "political jujitsu" giving examples of his ability to take the wind out of Democrat schemes like campaign finance reform, the creation of the homeland security department and perhaps his greatest gambit, a congressional resolution authorizing force against Iraq. He won these and other political battles and his actions "instantly took the issue off the table for the Democrats."

But perhaps his greatest strength is that the president is "driven far more by principle than by expediency, enough so that he deserves to be called a 'conviction politician." You see Bush "has a special advantage over many of his predecessors. He is not a career politician ... He did not spend 20 years in the game, as Bill Clinton and Al Gore had. His experience has not cowed him, has not made him afraid of taking risks."

As Podhoretz explains, "To make his mark in Washington, (Bush) needed to go another way. ... The only way that he could succeed was by pursuing a bold course and using daring tactics along the way." "George W. Bush has laid out the path this country must take if it is to be secure, and the first steps we've taken down this long road are worthy of celebration.... America has done some extraordinary and wonderful things these past three years. And as our president reassures us, "our nation--this generation--will lift a dark threat from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail."

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Horace Cooper writes a regular political analysis column for United Press International and GOPUSA.com. He was praised as a key Republican strategist in Elizabeth Drew's New York Times bestseller "Showdown: The Struggle Between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House" and extolled as a "poster conservative" by Michele Mitchell in "A New Kind of Party Animal."

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.