I've been pretty critical of President Bush of late, so here's a more positive assessment of his performance:
"The war began on my watch," Bush told the class of 2006, "but it's going to end on your watch." Truman might have made the same point, accurately as it turned out, to the class of 1952. We're lucky we had then, and have now, a president who takes bold action and braves vitriolic criticism to defend our civilization against those who would destroy it.
As many mistakes as Bush has made, and as politically clueless as he sometimes seems to be, I think a fair assessment would acknowledge that he has a clearer idea of the dangers we face than most of his critics do.
