Farewell to George W. Bush

I hereby say farewell to George W. Bush, who I believe in his own right has been a great leader. I don't say "great leader" because I want to justify some of the decisions he took. He, in his term, has made some horrendous mistakes. I say "great leader" because of his ability to push tough decisions. I say "great leader" because of his ability to get those people along with him, who were his most vehement opposers. I say "great leader" because of the sheer charisma with which he speaks and implements decisions.

President Bush was greeted by the 9/11 attacks when his term began. Thats when he stood up to the occasion and vowed to crush Al Qaida and Osama Bin Laden. The sheer determination by which the rescue work was carried out was a reflection of the American attitude. There has not been a single act of terrorism in America henceforth.

The Iraq war began before Bush renominated himself for the next election. At that time Americans didn't know that the intelligence report regarding weapons of mass destruction was wrong and the fact that America didn't have any post war solutions in Iraq. It was George W. Bush's charisma which got him re-elected. Americans felt safe in his leadership. But then, everything went wrong, and now there are talks of Bush being the worst president of the United States of America.

Every policy or economic decision Bush took was frowned at. Inspite of that he was able to push them and get them passed by the senate. Be it a huge cut in taxes, increased spending on education and the legendary Nuclear Deal with India. On his way out of the office, Bush was faced with perhaps the biggest economic challenge of America; the credit crisis. By this time, the people of America and the senate thought there is nothing that Bush could do right. His bailout plan of $700bn was outrightly rejected. I don't know what Bush does to push his plans, but a week hence the senate was by his side and the bailout was passed.

The tenure of Bush saw some of the toughest times for America. The terrorist attacks of 2001, the two wars after that, the hurricane Katrina and the Credit Crisis were the features of the last 8 years. George W. Bush in his farewell speech put what I was thinking very aptly, "You may not agree with some tough decisions I have had to make, but I hope you can agree that I was willing to make tough decisions."

The motor of the world is kept running by people like Bush. The ability to make difficult choices and implementing them is what is required by more leaders and entrepreneurs to take humanity to new heights. At least we don't need people who can only talk, who only have opinions after everything has happened. Someones got to make things happen first.