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Tributes to former President George H. W. Bush have been frightening this weekend, each in his own way, exposing the traps ahead for the current Oval Office resident this week.
Barack Obama, the 44th president, remembered the 41st president, calling him "humble servant". and decent "were the words used by Bill Clinton to praise his immediate predecessor. In his speech, Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul D. Ryan described Bush as "great in character, leading with decency and integrity".
[George H.W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, dies at 94]
On Monday, Bush will return to Washington, where he will remain in the state on Capitol Hill until Wednesday, the day of tradition. request, Trump will attend the funeral of the former president at the National Cathedral in Washington. It is unclear whether Trump will pronounce a eulogy.
Upon death, presidents are measured not only by their achievements, but also by what they say about the incumbent presidents – and in this case, the contrast is striking.
Trump seemed informed. the dangers of being compared to a beloved predecessor. The intransigent and outsider president has often fought with the Bush family. On Saturday, he praised Bush's "common sense, common sense and unshakeable leadership." He praised the fierce competition spirit of the former president, who demonstrated on the baseball field and in politics.
"President Bush has always found a way to set the bar
Bush was the last president of American war heroes, whose life was defined by military service in Congress, the State Department CIA and finally the White House Born into an elite family, his father, a senator from Connecticut, he steeped himself in the customs and customs of Washington from an early age. modesty and respect, even reverence, for Washington's institutions and even its somewhat obscure policy-making processes.
"He was an insider in the sense that he believed in public service and government", said Richard Haass, at the Bush White House, "He did not come to Washington to disrupt, he came to improve, that's who he was."
Trump's mandate, on the other hand, been defined by a war against virtually every standard s and institutions dear to Bush, including the CIA.
Three months ago, much of Washington's authorities, minus the president, met at Washington's National Cathedral for the funeral of Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). This ceremony celebrated McCain's life and his belief that America is a strong, moral and committed force on the world stage. In the end, it also served as a repudiation of Trump's politics and worldview.
[McCain’s funeral was a melancholy last hurrah for what’s been lost in Trump era]
This time, many expect something similar, if not equally obvious.
Bush's life and presidency "may remind us that what we have is profoundly abnormal," said Eliot Cohen, senior official of George W. Bush's state department. "The great danger of the Trump presidency is the normalization of character traits and behaviors that would have been an absolute abomination for its predecessors."
The difference this time is that Washington is mourning not only a former and former congressman, a member of the most exclusive club of American democracy. Most presidential funerals have been an opportunity for presidents past and present to emphasize their common sense of patriotism, mission and purpose.
"It is impossible to be in this position without having forged special ties with those who have gone before," Clinton said in 1994 after the death of Richard M. Nixon, who in many ways represented opposite pole of Clinton. Hours after Nixon's death, Clinton thanked the former president for his "wise counsel".
At Gerald Ford's funeral in 2007, his former rival, Jimmy Carter, recounted "the intense personal friendship" that bound him.
Immediately after Bush's death, much of the coverage covered his ties to Presidents Clinton and Obama. Clinton recounted the gracious and modest note that Bush had left him when he left the White House in 1992 in an article in the Washington Post on Saturday.
[Bill Clinton: George H.W. Bush’s Oval Office note to me revealed the heart of who he was]
"I'm hard on you," Bush had written.
Clinton recalled their friendship, forged during relief missions to Indonesia and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. "I have cherished every opportunity to learn and laugh with him," wrote Clinton. "I just loved him."
Three days before Bush's death, Obama met with the former president at his home in Houston and "revived what was already a very warm friendship," in the words of a spokesman of Bush.
It's hard to imagine Trump sitting in a room with Clinton, whom he attacked as a corrupt woman abuser and a "hypocrite" or Obama, whom he described as "" naughty ( or sick) ". Two Democrats have been equally critical of Trump, calling him a threat to American democracy. Trump's relationship with George W. Bush was also tense.
For Trump, the funeral and the close presence of his commanders-in-chief could serve to highlight his isolation.
The presidency of former President Bush was marked by some bitterly partisan moments. Her presidential campaign was accused of racial baiting in 1988 when she attacked Michael Dukakis, Bush's Democratic rival, for offering a weekend respite to Willie Horton, who raped a woman while she was released. from prison. On his deathbed, Lee Atwater, Bush's campaign manager, apologized for the advertisement.
The hearings surrounding Bush's appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court foreshadowed many bitter divisions of America.
Bush is best remembered for his moderation and his willingness to go forward. His compromise with the Democrats on a modest tax hike helped to reduce the federal budget deficit, even though its popularity was crumbling and giving birth to a more radical Republican party.
He greets the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of it. (19659026) Asked about the reasons for his enthusiasm, Bush told reporters, "I'm just not a very emotional man."
He may be the last president of the United States. which has not been despised by much of the American public. Part of this may have to do with the time that Bush ruled. He stood up through the Republican Party at a time when both parties were big tents, made up of liberal and conservative wings, before the Americans were seated in ideological warring camps.
"He was the very embodiment of the preparation, the process and the due diligence," said Peter Feaver, who served in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. "He believed in the importance of the expertise of the institution."
And some of them were a product of Bush's policy.
"Reasonable and moderate people do not engender passion," Haass said.
These traits raise particular problems for Trump.
Trump did not attend Barbara Bush's funeral in April, attended by First Lady Melania Trump.
[Barbara and George Bush’s love story remembered at her funeral]
Bush's desire to include Trump at his funeral suggests that the president did not want him. The final consignment concerns the current occupant of the Oval Office, but rather his life, his presidency and his country
This could be a difficult task at a time when Trump's presidency seems to overshadow just about all aspects. of American life.
"The country is a little exhausted and the last thing people want or need is the next few days to add to the burnout," Haass said. "The best thing for Trump and the country is that people say it was the most normal days of his presidency."
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