BUSH AND HISTORY. Ever since Bush turned unpopular and
conservatives conveniently decided that Bush wasn't a
conservative after all, a lot of liberals have been trying to
nail down the argument that, no, the failures of today's GOP
just are the failures of conservatism. I think Alan Wolfe
writing in the new Washington Monthly does the best job I've
seen yet. Among other things, the article just includes a lot of
great quips. The lead quip, though, is actually something I have
complicated views about: "Search hard enough and you might find
a pundit who believes what George W. Bush believes, which is
that history will redeem his administration."  I just may be
that pundit. My view, unpopular though it is, is that the
historical trajectory of Bush's reputation is going to roughly
resemble what's happened with Woodrow Wilson, a pretty awful
President who seems to be well-regarded because he basically put
a lot of appealing-sounding ideas in play that later politicians
turned into something useful and workable.  -