George H.W.

George H.W. Bush passed away last night. Everyone seems to be saying very nice things about him. People should really do that when a person is alive instead of after they're gone.

On the news they said he and maybe James K. Polk were the most accomplished one term presidents. Maybe, but Polk started a war with Mexico just because we wanted their land and was overall kind of a jerk. I had heard a number of times people say what a nice guy Bush was. He wrote polite notes to people a lot, was friendly even with people that didn't like him - just a nice guy.

Presidents shouldn't be remembered for how many terms they had. It's what they did. He did a lot. Ronald Reagan is the darling of a lot of people. He was fine, but I think Bush did more. What was Reagan's resume coming in? Governor of a state, ran for president several times, and made a bunch of bad movies. Bush? Head of the CIA, chairman of the Republican Party, ambassador to China, Senator, Vice President. Reagan has always gotten credit for ending the cold war. But it ended when Bush was President. And anyway, Reagan was just one of a long line from Truman on that kept up the pressure on Russia that finally ended the Cold War.

One of Bushes mistakes, if you can call it a mistake, was his modesty. Most presidents would have rushed over and stood in front of the Berlin Wall rubble and made a speech or at least had lots of photo ops. Bush didn't make a big deal of that, the end of the Cold War, the victory in the Gulf War.

The other big mistake was "Read my lips". That probably cost him the election right there. Plus he was running against Bill Clinton who was seen as super cool and George was pretty much the opposite of super cool.

This is going to change travel plans for me. In my quest to see all the Presidents' graves, now I'll need to take a trip to Texas. I would have to anyway to catch Lyndon. Now this makes my trip a twofer.

One last thing about George. I think it's cool when there is a picture of two people together that is totally unexpected. George Bush played first base for Yale and once met Babe Ruth. That's odd, isn't it? It's like the Nixon/Elvis picture, only that one you see all the time and you virtually never see the other. Anyway, here it is.