A Great President

Pete Du Pont thinks that history might someday judge George W. Bush as a great president.


It is too early to come to a conclusion--judging the success of a presidency requires time and perspective--but two aspects of the Bush presidency may well be good for the country for decades to come.

One is the doctrine of pre-emption, set forth in the 2002 State of the Union address and in June 2002 at West Point. America will not "await events while danger gathers . . . not stand by as peril grows closer and closer," Mr. Bush said in January. At West Point he said America take "pre-emptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives," and since "the only path to safety is the path of action, this nation will act."

Pre-emption is indeed a very different foreign policy--different from the Clinton policy of condemnation but little action in response to terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993, the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and the USS Cole in 2000, and different from the Carter doctrine of negotiation instead of confrontation. If the policy of pre-emption successfully protects America from future attacks by determined terrorist organizations, Mr. Bush will have had a lengthy and positive influence on America.

Well, certainly gentlemen think in itty bitty ideas, like Clinton or Kerry could never be great at anything.