Republican dilemma: What to do with George W. Bush?

Consider this dilemma facing President Bush, his political advisors, John McCain and, indeed, much of the Republican establishment as they look ahead to the party's national convention and McCain's formal nomination as the GOP's presidential candidate:

Should the president, a Republican serving a second term, be invited to the convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul? And if he is invited (which of course he will be) and if he attends (and few think he will not) then how does the party treat him?

That's the real question with which convention organizers and the White House -- and McCain -- must deal as they seek to avoid a picture just like this one.

It is an issue each convention faces when the incumbent is not seeking reelection. But it is even more of an issue when the incumbent is as unpopular as George W. Bush -- witness the efforts of the Obama camp to present a McCain presidency as "Bush's third term."

Twenty years ago, the handover from President Reagan to George H.W. Bush was neatly orchestrated at the New Orleans airport. Reagan had given his farewell address to the convention on its opening night, and the next day headed out of town -- with Bush the elder introducing the Bush grandchildren to the departing president, saluting him at the airport, and then heading into the city to accept the party's nomination while Reagan flew West.

Eight years ago in Los Angeles, President Clinton got out of the way -- albeit with considerable fanfare -- as Al Gore accepted the Democratic Party's presidential nod.

In the end, as Sheryl Gay Stolberg notes in today's New York Times, "Republicans may just have to grit their teeth" and give Bush a short turn on the stage -- before turning things over to McCain -- despite the view expressed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who said: "I don't think there are a lot of people who want to see him at the convention."

With a convention sans Bush, he said, "everybody would be better off."

--James Gerstenzang

Photo: Paul J. Richards  AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[Richard Friedman]

Can't pretend Bush doesn't exist, because unlike WMD in Iraq, he does. So why not emphasize the positive? Never mind. That won't work.

[Dean S]

Bush rules!!!! Uhhh... Not!

[D.Perry]

Prison or better yet, Guantanamo. Lets test his beloved torture techniques that he is so very proud of. Let us get some meaningful answers. George W. Bush, proving that you can be greedy, arrogant and pig headed and still run a country into the ground, but fortunately its America and the rich never pay for their crimes Never forget 9/11 happened on his watch. Republicans will make him a hero for trashing our laws and relieving himself on our constitution. I hope corporate whores are happy!

[joshua]

I don't quite understand all this visceral hatred spewed here about George Bush Jr. I think he did the right thing at the right time. I have fought in the Iraq war and Afghanistan and would proudly do so again without question. Because I have talked to many Iraqis both Shia, Sunni and Kurd I have gotten to know the region and it's people quite intimately, the same sentiment I also extend to many Afghanis. Millions of women in the middle east and in centeral Asia have rights because of the actions of the United States Military that were undertaken because of the orders of George W. Bush. How many of your readers would like to live under the yoke of Saddam Hussein or Mullah Omar? All in all I believe he has done the right thing and I hope that your readers would put themselves in the position of being a decision maker such as the President of the United States perhaps they might come t some different conclusions once the themselves had to get daily security decision briefings as well as having to read the Presidential daily brief. Leave the man alone.

[Hitobito]

Just a note to Joshua: First, go back to school and study the 3 Rs. Second, in early August, 2001, the National Security Advisor Dr. Condi Rice, received raw intel from the National Security Agency that "young Arab men were planning to use civil airliners as weapons..." Dr. Rice did not think this information as "actionable intelligence" and omitted from the PSB. This was a significant and monumental mistake. The 84 times that George W. Bush stated in speeches to the American people of the"imminent threat of Saddam's WMD" resulted in what will be remembered as the one of worst foreign policy failures in history. It is no coincidence that major US oil companies are back in Iraq during the last six months of the Bush Administration.

[Gina]

Joshua, the "I fought in Iraq, I know better than you, and I love George Bush" line is too frequently seen on blog comments to be believable. As the old saying goes, no one on the Internet knows you're a dog, so when you use unprovable statements to make your point, it's immediately suspect.

George Bush is the president of the United States, not president of Iraq, not president of the Middle East. We have far too many problems in our own country to spend valuable and limited resources overseas trying to solve other people's problems. The Iraq war will cost trillions. Those trillions would have been better spent in our own country, solving our infrastructure and health care messes. Look at the horrid flooding this year in the Midwest; that resulted from an outdated riprarian defense system. That could have been fixed many times over with the American taxpayers' money lost in Iraq to corruption.

As a parent, I feel bad when I see hungry children on the news on the other side of the world. But I'm not going to starve my own children to pay for food for other hungry children. Similarly, the US cannot make its own citizens a lower priority than strangers half a world away.

The United States must deal with its own problems first. Afghanistan was a different situation because it harbored forces that attacked the United States. But Iraq did not. We can't spend trillions of our own money and mortgage our children's future to force people halfway around the world to accept democracy. It's as simple as that.

[Darrell Kern]

Americans will do nothing to him so to argue about it pointless. A nation filled with idiots allowed him to remain in office, even after we all knew the election was "stolen" his first term was one of the worst in the history of this country only to be followed by a worse term. The fact the public did not drag him out of the white house with his scumbag VP, Cheney and lynch them like they deserve proves this country will never ever do a damn thing about it. So, I recommend everyone to just shut the hell up and take it. Nixon, Carter, Ford, Regan, Bush, Clinton and Bush Jr., getting progressively worse each term and America does nothing. Nothing ever happens and nothing ever will. This is how it is and will continue to be so quit whining- you folks in here all sound so pathetic and more boring than you can possibly imagine!

[Frank Paiano]

Bush should be prosecuted.
He lied about WMDs and Iraqi ties to al Qaeda (a war crime).
He has undid hundreds of years of jurisprudence by ignoring the basic right of habeas corpus.
He lied about illegally spying on U.S. citizens.
His administration outed a CIA operative to get revenge on her husband.
He and his administration encouraged torture and then allowed the poor saps who carried out their orders to tap the fall.
He is a criminal and it is incumbent upon our elected representatives who have sworn to uphold the Constitution to bring him to trial.
It is scary what he has gotten away with. It is not a good omen for our democracy.

[frank]

George w. Bush: brave, courageous, logical, orderly, follows through on his word, never afraid to speak his mind and always has the faith to speak his mind, a religious man with convictions, one wife and loving father, and yes, he did turn his life round....and looking at all these good qualities, it is very understandable why the left hates...not just hates, but despises him! He is everything they are not and probably will never be. And as we get closer to losing him as our president, lets hope more realize these truths.

[joan ca]

After reading all the comments, some of which I agree wholeheartedly, others? Could someone tell me what recourse we have? Voting? standing up to be counted (by what) Vote, unconstitutional, over ridden, Go to the polls, no use. Whatever can be done, undone. We the people are no longer we the people. the constitution, which was our credence, pay no mind. Today POWER, POWER, thought at one time it was wealth, NOT! Power creates money, money creates power. We the tax paying and paying, disheartened citizens just don't count any longer. The whole world has gone too far, when will it end? How dare we or the political forces foster Democracy on others, when we or the political party has no idea what a democracy is? Please God help us, we certainly need it!

[Donal Hanley]

I have nothing against President Bush. From what I have read he is a very nice man. But leader of the free world? The European view is that America elected a nice as their President a nice man who is intellectually challenged and who is a disaster as leader of America and of the free world. WQhat more is there to say?

[Douglas Paulino]

Dear Frank,
You are so out of touch with reality. You are suffering from a "reality distortion field". I am sure it was "my country right or wrong", when it came to the Vietnam War. You hate Jane Fonda and drive a pick-up truck with American flags all over it! How sad you Redneck!

[Mike]

I would sugest the best think for them to do with Bush is to impeach him and make sure he is in jail for crimes against humanity by the time the convention is on.

[jimmycrackcorn]

Bush et al have proved on countless occasions that they have no respect for the documents put in place by our founding fathers. Prepare yourselves for January 2009 when the Cretin In Chief issues Presidential Pardons by the ream.

[jimmycrackcorn]

Bush will pardon his henchmen by the drove come 1/09. An upcoming chapter to await in the 8-year surreal reign of the Cretin In Chief