Where Is George W. Bush?...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

AUSTIN, Texas - The dignified history of former American presidents has it that they fade into public life, become benevolent ambassadors or emerge as statesmen. Harry Truman falls into the first category, Bill Clinton into the second and Jimmy Carter into the third. Then, there is George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States shown in photo above.

Bush's chief legacy always will be that ill-advised invasion of Iraq, a stubborn flirtation that not only cost some 4,000 American soldiers their lives, but also bankrupted the country. He has taken a few of his retirement weekends to aid the American effort in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, although his life today consists largely of living a quiet life in a wealthy Dallas enclave. And unlike Clinton or Carter, he has stayed away from the political playing field.

Pundits, however, have been asking why Bush, Jr. hasn't said a word about the ongoing Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination race. He has neither endorsed nor spoken out against frontrunner candidate Mitt Romney or Romney's chief opponent Newt Gingrich. Indeed, Bush, Jr. ignored fellow Texan Rick Perry's bid for the same prize.

Not that he'd want to go public. Bush, Jr. never was one to speak before bi-partisan crowds, choosing his venues carefully when president and always insisting on street barricades that kept protesters out of his hair. Would he get the same now? Undoubtedly. Maybe even rioting.

Closer to the truth is the idea that these GOP candidates do not want him in the fray. Romney and Gingrich know of Bush, Jr's failings, of his lousy presidency and of the hatred that many Americans have for him. And they know that the proud Bush never was a team player. Bush was for Bush and everybody around him knew it. His administration took its freedoms with the U.S. Constitution and left it at that. His obstinate vice-president, Dick "The Creep" Cheney, has laid-low, as well. While this would be a time for them to again fly their flag with some seeming pride, both Bush, Jr. and Cheney have opted to stay home, to let these Republicans forge their own way, to let history prepare to judge them.

George W. Bush will go down in history as the worst president the country has ever endured. About that, there is no question. Perhaps that is another reason why he has closeted himself in Big D, leaving his secured home only to attend Texas Rangers baseball games in the company of his U.S. Secret Service protectors.

Would a man who is listed as war criminal in Europe, and who would be arrested on sight, be so egotistical as to come out and personally support a Mitt Romney, a Newt Gingrich? He can't travel to France or Germany or Spain, but he could swing by California and New York to rally Republicans in their race against popular Democratic President Barack Obama.

Bush just won't do it.

He knows why, and the country knows why, too...

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