Bush deserves credit for Obama

[Russ Abbott]

and not in the snide way you think. Much as I dislike Bush, I think that he did a lot--positively--to set the stage for an Obama victory. In particular, his appointment of Colin Powell and Condolesa Rice as Secretaries of State legitimized in the public mind the image of a black person holding high government office.

-- Russ

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[Douglas Roberts-2]

Been sampling the port, Russ?

 I know I have.  Yet, not even in my wildest imaginings of generosity would I have credited Bush with those compliments.  IMO, Any of the (one or, maybe, two) successes achieved  during his terms in office can be adequately attributed to pure, dumb, luck.

--Doug

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 7:23 PM, Russ Abbott <[hidden email]> wrote:

and not in the snide way you think. Much as I dislike Bush, I think that he did a lot--positively--to set the stage for an Obama victory. In particular, his appointment of Colin Powell and Condolesa Rice as Secretaries of State legitimized in the public mind the image of a black person holding high government office.

-- Russ

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[Steve Smith]

Russ Abbott wrote:
> and not in the snide way you think. Much as I dislike Bush, I think
> that he did a lot--positively--to set the stage for an Obama victory.
> In particular, his appointment of Colin Powell and Condolesa Rice as
> Secretaries of State legitimized in the public mind the image of a
> black person holding high government office.
Correlation does not imply causation.    Psych 101.

A few racist conservative voters might have loosened up their racism
enough to vote for Obama if they got over their conservatism, but not many.

I think Bush did more to get Obama elected by being such a lousy excuse
for a President.  He not only did a lousy job most of the time but
surrounded himself (or allowed himself to be surrounded by his
puppeteers) with another circle of losers, Condi included.  

Powell regained a little credibility by getting fired and then by
endorsing Obama.  I don't know that he was a black man endorsing a black
man, though maybe he was.  I hope he was a reformed neoCon showing that
stripes could be changed.

I believe that the presence of Condi and Colin in the neoCon
administration reflected the fact that we were ready for African
Americans in positions of prominence, even neoCons.   Barack Obama's
ascendency to Dem candidate and almost surely our next President is a
combination of an American populace finally (mostly) ready to put racist
stereotypes behind and a populace very fed up with neoCon abuses.






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[Jochen Fromm-4]

Interesting point. The church maybe deserves credit for Darwin, too
(and the british regime in India for Gandhi, the communist regime in the
Sovietunion
for Gorbachev, the apartheid regime in South Africa for Nelson Mandela,..)
Perhaps every great reformer needs a suppressing regime which goes wrong.

-J.

----- Original Message -----
From: Russ Abbott
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 3:23 AM
Subject: [FRIAM] Bush deserves credit for Obama


and not in the snide way you think. Much as I dislike Bush, I think that he
did a lot--positively--to set the stage for an Obama victory. In particular,
his appointment of Colin Powell and Condolesa Rice as Secretaries of State
legitimized in the public mind the image of a black person holding high
government office.

-- Russ



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[Russ Abbott]

That's not what I'm saying. I am not saying that by showing the country what a bad president looks like, Bush set the stage for a decent replacement. I think he actually did something good, namely he accustomed the American population to seeing African Americans in high positions in the Federal government. That doesn't excuse all the terrible things he did. But he did do something positive.

-- Russ

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 11:41 AM, Jochen Fromm <[hidden email]> wrote:

Interesting point. The church maybe deserves credit for Darwin, too
(and the british regime in India for Gandhi, the communist regime in the Sovietunion
for Gorbachev, the apartheid regime in South Africa for Nelson Mandela,..)
Perhaps every great reformer needs a suppressing regime which goes wrong.

-J.

----- Original Message ----- From: Russ Abbott
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 3:23 AM
Subject: [FRIAM] Bush deserves credit for Obama


and not in the snide way you think. Much as I dislike Bush, I think that he did a lot--positively--to set the stage for an Obama victory. In particular, his appointment of Colin Powell and Condolesa Rice as Secretaries of State legitimized in the public mind the image of a black person holding high government office.

-- Russ



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[Jochen Fromm-4]

Yes, maybe, but in the eyes of the international
community George W. Bush has a disastrous image.
John Clesse has described it well here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR3eUjD6y6o

-J.



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