George W. Bush as closet socialist...?

August 2, 2009 ·

Many of my friends are of the “Bush was awful and every single thing he ever did was awful” persuasion. And there’s plenty to agree with them on in terms of the environment, global warming, fiscal idiocy on taxes and deficits, favoritism towards cronies and corporate interests, torture…the list goes on. (Actually it’s all just standard issue Republicanism, the Procrustean bed that shaped his politics.)

However, remember “compassionate conservatism”? My friends view this as total cynicism. I don’t…quite. (Remember, Laura Bush was a staunch liberal Democrat when he met her, and I don’t think it was entirely an accident that they got together.)

There are some things, such as his expansion of efforts to fight AIDS in Africa, that have won praise from Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, and stand as compassionate by any measure. But that’s human compassion, admirable but not a marker in a philosophy of government.

Nevertheless, there are several key items that suggest a closet socialist streak in Bush that will be far more important and influential in the long run than they are being given credit for.

G.W. Bush’s socialist legacy

No Child Left Behind established the principle that all schools are accountable to the same standards – no matter what state, city, or income area they are in. He didn’t provide the funding that was needed, but if a Democrat had proposed this the right wing would have launched an all-out blitzkrieg against it, not to mention that the teachers’ unions would have fought it like crazy too (lousy teachers are the teachers’ unions strongest constituency). Can you say national education system, boys and girls? Can you say accountability for all teachers? Can you say “Screw states’ rights as an excuse for screwing students”? Can you say local property taxes are no way to fund a NATIONAL education system?

Medicare Part D – prescription drug plan. A Republican president who not only wasn’t frothing at the mouth trying to dismantle Medicare, but created a plan to expand it to meet the realities of today’s drug-driven healthcare. Explicitly denying the government the right to negotiate prices doesn’t pass the sniff test of any business, but that’s a lot easier to the Dems to remedy. Dems never could have gotten any Medicare drug plan passed.

Medicare HMO plans. The plan that provides government subsidies to insurance companies to have them provide total (managed) coverage for enrollees. Yes, it was a giveaway to the insurance companies, but it also increased total funding for Medicare patients who enrolled – and incentivized them to enter a managed health care plan (a concept of simplified and seamless delivery that makes sense, despite the vilification aimed at it).

So… Come on now. Admit it. When he wasn’t being weggied by Cheney and Rove, the guy was a closet socialist. He coulda been a contender.