Hanna Xu | Student Life

And that’s because the truth is that Dubya nearly had me for a second there. There he was all over TV last week, talking about his book, acting vulnerable on Matt Lauer and nervously fiddling with his hands, and I thought, “Hey, maybe this guy wasn’t so bad after all. Not the brightest bulb, but relatively sane.” I mean, at least he wasn’t advocating for the abolishment of the Department of Education or denying witchy tendencies. And then I remembered his eight years of presidency. So while Bush has been popping up everywhere, spreading his special brand of Texan charm all over the media and chortling a lot, I’ve been thinking back to a not-so-distant land of two years ago.

We all know that it’s hard to be president. And when a national figure, however ideologically loathsome you might find him, graces late-night television with hangdog looks of regret and teary sighs, it’s difficult not to feel some measure of sympathy. But let’s not forget that however artfully worded and cloaked in romantic rhetoric Bush’s memoir may be, there remains the cold, hard legacy of his presidency. The war in Iraq. Sept. 11. Guantanamo Bay. The economic recession. Waterboarding. Hurricane Katrina. In his eight years in office, Bush succeeded not only in isolating over half of the American public but almost all of the international community with an arrogant foreign policy of bilateralism and “nation-building.” So before we get nostalgic over a head of state who notoriously seemed to spend more time out of the White House than in, let’s take a kinder look at those on either side of the aisle who are working to clean up the messes of a president more notorious for his incompetence than anything else.

Fool me once, Bush, shame on you. But fool me twice, and we’ll see if I ever invite you out for a beer again.

After President Obama took office, he began making revolutionary changes that altered U.S. policy: He called for the dismantling of Guantanamo Bay detention camp and released Justice Department documents from the Bush administration that were very explicit with regard to torture policies. Furthermore, President Obama promised to “ban torture,” which made Democrats jump with joy and left Republicans changing their pants. However, immediately after the release of the documents, the left wing called for the prosecution of the people involved in writing the memo—key Bush administration figures and the CIA.

However, Obama then proceeded to flip-flop by visiting the CIA and giving a speech saying he appreciated the agency—showing that they may not come under fire for the torture memos. So in this whole process, President Obama pissed off the Republicans for releasing classified documents and pissed off the Democrats by not prosecuting the people involved with those documents. This is what I feared—promises that were made during the campaign and during inauguration are not going to be held up. Granted, it is extremely difficult to reverse strong policies implemented by the previous administration, but by promising to ban torture and then not fulfilling it, Obama seems to have waterboarded himself.

Now, it is understandable that an incoming Democratic president would want to reverse policies set in place; however, it was ridiculous to say that torture would be banned completely. Recent Senate reports have shown that Condolleezza Rice and other high-ranking Bush administration officials approved the CIA’s use of waterboarding as early as 2002. As citizens of a free nation, we must understand that the actions of the CIA and other security agencies have kept us free for this long; however, using questionable procedures may give the enemy more leverage against us. Torture is a very touchy subject, and it would be a better world when no such techniques are needed.

In this day and age, a ban on torture seems elegant and high-minded, but there are several groups in the world that wish to bring America down regardless of the ban on torture. They hate the very existence of our nation and will not stop until we are wiped out. Against such hatred, what can we do? Like choosing between a rock and a hard place, I say we let our security agencies continue doing their job. The only thing we can do is hope that informed politicians and officials in this new administration make the right choices and protect our rights and our existence.