by Alan Fernald

Created on: April 01, 2007   Last Updated: September 27, 2008

As we enter the final months of the Bush administration, Bush's legacy seems to be the topic on the mind of many political pundits. Yet what type of legacy will George Bush leave? Will he be revered as the President who pulled our country through the disaster of 9/11? Or will he be lambasted as the President who placed us in a war that can't be won? Will he be remembered as the President who gave us a strong and thriving economy? Or as the President who permitted 'earmarks' to become the most popular form of political corruption?

History teaches us that president's who take a stand on controversial issues are those that have the best sustained legacies. Abraham Lincoln is revered as one of the best president's in our country's history due to his stand on slavery, and his refusal to allow the Southern states to secede from the Union. However, he was also the only President to completely ignore the US Constitution when he suspended civil liberties and writs of habeas corpus during the American Civil War.

Will Bush ever be considered as one of America's top presidents? Will he be vilified as one of the worst? Or will he be forever stuck with the label of mediocrity.

People will look back in history and realize that 9/11/2001 became the date that we entered into what is slowly changing into the next 'war to end all wars'. It was this date that brought global terrorism to our door step, and showed to the American people that we, as a people, are the targets of a terrible and implacable enemy. This war was being waged long before 2001, yet we failed to recognize the danger, or to take steps to protect ourselves from the ever present violence of the Middle East.

I personally believe that history will vindicate President Bush as one of the few international leaders who had the political courage to stand up and resist the intimidation and threat of radical Islam. The modern threat of terrorism has persisted for many decades (though terrorism itself has existed for hundreds of years), yet President Bush will eventually be acknowledged as the first President to successfully address this threat on American soil.

President Bush will be remembered as the first American President to recognize that we, as a people, are in a war, not against a religion, but against an ideology. He will be remembered as the President who had the inner strength to ignore the polls, and to do what he thought was best for the continued strength and prosperity of the United States. He will be remembered

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