![]() Still, Bush lost. The reason was businessman Ross Perot, with his ubiquitous charts showing America was in economic extremis. GOP efforts to protect gas stoves only burn consumersīiden’s boondoggle: Ending the student loan pause is an act of fiscal responsibility While this imaginary excursion into the land of “what ifs” is simply that, the success of Bush’s only term at least suggests that today’s world could not have been worse off had he won. have invaded in Iraq in 2003 over weapons of destruction that did not exist? Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden would not have been elected president. It likewise is unknowable who might have run in 1996 after a Bush second term. Would Sept. If Bush had won in 1992, perhaps George W. Bush spells it out in detail in “ A World Transformed,” coauthored with Scowcroft. Whether Bush could have achieved his aims is unknowable. But had he, Russia might not have invaded Ukraine. Similarly, Bush and his advisors would have been more cautious about NATO expansion. Bush initially favored providing Russia more financial aid. He also understood that Russia’s history and ego could not be dismissed. All this is not idle speculation. A second Bush term would have made 2023 far, far better. Instead of wrongly assuming that China could become more Western in character, Bush understood that would not happen, certainly after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. A more pragmatic long-term policy would have been put in place. And the fear of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan today would be a non-issue. Bush also put in place an economic plan that, after he left office, drove the recovery for which the Clinton administration received credit.īaker’s argument, I believe, would go like this. ![]() military in perhaps the most lopsided campaign in history.īush wisely chose not to march to Baghdad. In foreign policy, the Bush administration managed and guided the transition of former East European Warsaw Pact states under Moscow’s control to nations that are now free and independent. The magnitude of that achievement has too often been undervalued. And Scowcroft’s deputy, Robert Gates, took over the CIA in 1991. That was a formidable team.Īnd that team had just pulled off Desert Storm, driving Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and crushing Iraq’s army in a mere 100 hours, restoring the reputation of the U.S. ![]() A youngish Dick Cheney was at the Pentagon. General Colin Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With those qualifications and a brilliant first term, I wonder what Baker might consider the global consequences of Bush’s loss to Bill Clinton in 1992. Suppose Bush had won and had gotten four more years. Would today’s world be different?īush presided over arguably the greatest peaceful transformation of the 20th century: the implosion of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991. The Bush team was superb. Baker was at State. General Brent Scowcroft was serving for the second time as national security advisor. ![]()
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