Bush 2021, Please Meet Bush 2001

 Jamelle Bouie is correct to recall that George W. Bush was the architect of policies that infected the American electorate and grew to be the crisis which now threatens our democracy.It is understandable that Mr. Bouie greets a recent Bush speech, condemning terrorism at home and abroad and the polarization of American politics, with great annoyance (“galling”).

Indeed, the Bush administration’s subversion of American unity and idealism is tempered only by comparison to the naked authoritarianism and lawlessness of the Trump years. And though Mr. Bush, as president, did a few praiseworthy things, such as funding AIDS relief in Africa and speaking in defense of Muslim-Americans,it is, nevertheless, hypocritical for him to now pose as a revered elder statesman admonishing a wayward nation for enlarging the practices he once preached.
Of coarse, reformation should be encouraged and Mr. Bush can make a useful contribution to the battle against domestic terrorists by continuing to speak out. His transformation would be more convincing, however, were he to acknowledge the error of his earlier misdeeds and atone for his own sins.