George W. Bush gave his final press conference this morning. He was probably more relaxed and in control than ever before at such an event. While his presidency was undoubtedly less than he had hoped for, there is no reason why his ex-presidency need be.Freed from the shackles of the White House and his overbearing handlers, I think President Bush has quite a bit to offer. I think he has learned a great deal in the last eight years, but has not had the opportunity to make use of his increasing capacity to see the big and the little picture. For George W. Bush, life after Karl Rove could be very productive and useful. Though reflectiveness has not been his strong suit, I am guessing that he will want to do quite a bit more of this now that he will have the time and incentive to do so.
How will history view his tenure? Probably not as well as he hopes, but he need not settle for history's judgement on his time on the Oval. Like Jimmy Carter, he could choose to become an outstanding ex-president. He could become an active participant in the efforts to learn valuable lessons from his experiences as President.
Despite his reputation for anti-intellectualism, I happen to think he would make a great political science professor. Now stop laughing. I'm not suggesting he go teach at Harvard. I am suggesting that he would be a great professor at one of the colleges and universities where 95% of Americans actually go. I teach at just such a university. My classes are not filled with over-achieving geniuses (though we have a few). They are filled with average kids who lack an appreciation for their own intellectual potential. One of the most precious and valuable skills a professor can have in these average classrooms is the capacity to engender trust. Despite my disappointment with his policies and their results, I think President Bush does possess superior communications skills. I think he has enormous capacity for genuine/authentic communication, something indispensable in engendering the trust necessary to show young people the benefits of high level analytical thinking.
I think his sometimes comical inability to communicate with Americans in the last 10 years was due more to his own lack of commitment to what he was saying. It seems to me that when his comments are clearly his own, he rarely stumbled.
My advice to George W. Bush is to take time off to think about the lessons he's learned. Don't waste your own time trying to manipulate history. Others will no doubt do that for you. When you are ready, Mr. President, I would love to see you tour the nation's colleges and universities, the one's educating the vast majority of young Americans, and give lectures, talks, and workshops on the lessons you've learned. If you can do this without allowing yourself to be shackled by efforts to write the history of your administration in a favorable light, I think you will bring enormous value to the education of the students you touch.
I would be thrilled to have President Bush speak to my students in this way because while political outcomes are very important, they pale in comparison to the importance of political skills, knowledge, and experience. President Bush has an abundance of these things, and he should use them to help educate a new generation, rather than simply campaigning for the same generation's positive judgement in their old age.