by Chris Kling

Created on: October 26, 2008   Last Updated: November 03, 2008

Richard M. Nixon is the first US President to have resigned the position of President. He resigned, of course, due to the debacle that was the "Watergate" bungled burlary and ensuing attempt to cover up the burglary.

Spiro Agnew would have become President had he not resigned as Nixon's Vice-President when he was charged with extortion.

Gerald R. Ford was appointed to the position of Vice President upon Agnew's resignation, and it would soon thrust him right into the top spot.

People didn't start to forget Nixon's foibles until Ford lost his own re-election bid to Jimmy Carter in 1976.

But even then, Richard M. Nixon would emerge as the elder statesman and consumate politician that he was.

George W. Bush had it tough from the beginning.

When George W. Bush was inaugurated on January 20th, 2000, it was the Republican's turn to try to heal a nation after a disgraceful Democrat tarnished the office. The ousted democrats, Clinton and Gore took out their venomous revenge by means of childish and immature actions: Newsmax.com reported that, "The cost of cleaning up the effects of the deliberate vandalism caused by Clinton and Gore White House staffers could exceed $250,000, according to an official of the General Services Administration (GSA)" [http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/1 /25/165244.shtml].

In spite of this, knowing what respect means (and meant) to former Presidents, George W. Bush did what he could to minimize damage to President Clinton and Vice President Gore, and in fact it was in the Boston Globe that "For example, at a briefing Jan. 25, Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer deceptively encouraged reporters' suspicions while refusing to confirm or deny reports of damage. The next day, in a 620-word account, Kornblut wrote: ''No public evidence exists that Clinton and Gore staff members vandalized the White House or Old Executive Office Building.'

Not long after that, a true international crisis erupted: no, not on 9/11 yet, but on April 1, 2001, when a United States Navy EP-3E signals reconnaissance aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8II fighter jet collided, raising tensions between the two superpowers. The Chinese government vowed to keep the American Crew and the American Recon jet, but the Bush administration's dimplomacy won out, and the crew - and the [disassembled] jet were returned to the US.

Then, within five and a half months later, the worst act of war against US soil was conducted by radical Islamic terrorists, as they skyjacked and flew 747's into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a third attack was thwarted by brave passengers who forced the plane down in Pennsylvania.

I can't think of a single president to have gone through so much fire to test his mettle within the first nine months of his Presidency.

Bush has guided the US through the second gulf war - with many nations joining in an international mission, reminiscent of W's father, George H.W. Bush's efforts a decade earlier. The war in Afghanistan and Iraq helped remove a viscious dictator and his two equally viscious sons from power. The "Bush Doctrine" of pre-emptive strike also helped convince Col. Qadafi of Lybia to surrender his weapons of mass destruction without even lifting a weapon in his direction.

When all the tarnish of partisanship is wiped away in the future, I believe that George W. Bush will be regarded as one of the most successful presidents, right in the pantheon with Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan.

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