One View From Europe

There are many legitimate criticisms of the Bush administration's domestic and foreign policies (excluding the tedious Bush bashing from Hollywood and the music industry). Mistakes were made, as the bureaucrats like to say. To compound its problems, the administration's communications program has also been mysteriously lame. But writing in the London Telegraph, Niles Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation offers a different take on the Bush legacy:

There has not been a single terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, and for all the global condemnation of pre-emptive strikes, Guantanamo and the use of rendition against terror suspects, the fact remains that Bush's aggressive strategy actually worked.

As Gardiner suggests, history may view the Bush presidency a lot different than the way it is currently portrayed in a very hostile media, both here and abroad. Gardiner concedes that some of the criticism is fair game, but "much of the condemnation of his policies though is driven by a venomous hatred of Bush's personality and leadership style, rather than an objective assessment of his achievements."