The left hates him, moderates don’t like him and the right is disappointed in him: former President George W. Bush spent the past eight years doing the toughest job on Earth, but I have a sneaking suspicion his mailbox isn’t stuffed full of “Thank You” cards. If I were him, leaving the White House as celebrities, politicians and millions of citizens from around the country celebrate my successor who campaigned as the —anti-me— would hurt a lot.

I thought he showed a lot of character in how graciously he helped President Obama’s transition team take over the reigns of power. I can picture a political cartoon in my head. The White House with millions celebrating President Obama on one side with confetti and balloons and then-President Bush and Laura alone on the other side with suitcases waiting for a taxi to pick them up as it begins to rain.

I’ll wait for history to be the final judge of how effective his presidency was, but I’d like to take this time to thank him for his service.

Dear President Bush,

How do you like your new home in Dallas? Do you have any new hobbies? I spent the month of January at home doing mostly nothing, so if you need any pointers on what to do when you are home alone and getting really bored, just give me a call. Peggle is an especially addicting game I found on the internet which I highly recommend, but jigsaw puzzles are also pretty fun as long as you don’t lose any pieces.

Anyway, the reason I’m writing this letter to you is that I want to thank you for serving as president for the past eight years. If you didn’t check, you finished with about a 30 percent approval rating from the American public, so I figure you’ll read my letter since you probably don’t get very many of the positive variety. Leading is a hard thing to do because you are forced to make decisions that will lead to both positive and negative outcomes, but I thank you for making those difficult decisions and doing what you believed would be best for the American people.

The economy sure has taken a tough turn recently. Conservatives like me had a hard time with how much money you spent as president, but I think anyone who blames one president for economic failure or gives one the credit for economic recovery is too simplistic. FDR and his New Deal used to be given the credit for the United States? recovery from the Great Depression, but now most people seem to believe that it was World War II that really turned things around. Your tax cuts were great, and your spending was excessive, but now President Obama is proposing more of both. Hopefully the tax cuts will help and the trillions of dollars of wasteful government spending won’t prolong the problem.

September 11, 2001 and the days after were probably very difficult and stressful for you, but they were also the days when Americans were most unified behind you. I remember being scared about the future and whether or not those who attacked would try again. You were a calming presence and spoke with conviction that America would recover. You told us you would do everything in your power to keep us safe. In hindsight, people have nit-picked your words and mocked your actions, but I remember the president the whole world looked to for guidance in that moment of chaos. Thank you for keeping our country safe after that day.

One of your greatest achievements, foreign or domestic, was your aid to Africa, but for some strange reason the media didn’t feel that was a story worth covering. Eighteen billion in anti-retroviral medication has saved hundreds of thousands of lives from HIV/AIDS, $34 billion has canceled the debt of 27 African states, giving these governments a chance to succeed, and your Malaria initiative has reduced the disease by half in 15 African countries. These are just a few of the life-saving policies you’ve overseen in this part of the world. Doing the right thing without recognition is something I greatly respect in a person, so I thank you for looking out for millions of people who needed your help.

The Iraq War will, for better or worse, define your legacy, but from what I know, I trust that you made what you believed to be the best choices for the future of our world. An evil dictator who killed hundreds of thousands is dead, and a region of violent chaos may have a chance at peaceful democracy. You know as well as anyone the price paid for this war in the loss of American soldiers and civilian casualties, and I thank you for making a difficult decision I’m sure you will live with it for the rest of your life. I stand by you, and if history shows this war was a mistake, it will be on my shoulders too.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena.”

Thank you, Mr. President, for entering the arena for our country.

Yours truly,
Andrew