What George W. Bush Can Teach Us in the Aftermath of Trump's Assassination Attempt

      The Iraq War had been going badly for a couple of years when President George W. Bush fired Donald Rumsfeld and appointed Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and General David Petraeus as Commander, Multi-National Force – Iraq.  Both men were known not only for professional expertise but also for a willingness to speak truth to power.  Bush deliberately selected who he believed were the best men to solve the problem in Iraq.  He did not choose people who were slavishly devoted to him.  He then approved their new strategy, called “The Surge,” and placed his entire support behind it.

      Shortly after this, President Bush gave a speech at the U.S. Naval War College at which he laid out the new strategy.  I was in the audience at that speech.  Prior to it, I had been strongly in opposition to Bush’s Iraq War as much because of the arrogance of the President and his assistants as because of the flaws in his strategy.  As I watched and listened to President Bush that morning, however, I saw nothing of that.  He was humbled but clear in his resolve.  He took sole responsibility for the failures in Iraq, was willing to admit he was wrong, and was prepared to change course on the advice of others.  I was still against his policies but experienced a new-found respect for his leadership.  For the first time, I thought of him as “my President.”

      From my perspective, this represented a major shift in President Bush’s perspective on and thinking about Iraq.  That he had the moral grounding to make this shift is what marked him out as a leader.  Donald Trump has a similar opportunity for change next week at the Republican National Convention.  He can put aside the fully documented divisive language he has employed for years and call for national unity.  He can then personify that call.  We can only hope he will be equal to the moment, just as President Bush was.