Dubya's Speech Was About Three Years Too Late

A lot of commentary has been written and spoken about two speeches given on the same day last week by two former presidents using words seeking unity in our republic. Both speeches were rightfully compared and appeared to hit the same targets with pointed rhetoric. President Donald Trump and his agenda (legal immigration enforcement, the repeal of ObamaCare, tax reform and a strong military) won in November 2016, yet Trump and his supporters were the intended targets of words such as bigotry, racism, nativism and bullying. That, in a nutshell, is also why Trump won.

Despite the George W. Bush Foundation’s event in New York City being planned well over a year in advance, his remarks were not. The speech was a significant departure from Bush’s almost stone silence for eight years as Barack Obama fundamentally transformed America through weaponizing government and turning every policy disagreement into an argument about race and bigotry. Now “W” seems pretty comfortable rebuking those who seemed to threaten a doctrine of globalism with a heightened recommitment to American exceptionalism.

Let’s dissect the words of the 43rd president to see where he went wrong and also to give him credit where it’s due..