George H.W. Bush receives award, answers questions at Lied Center

By Andy Greenhaw

Published on Mon., November 17th, 2008

Some tense and comical moments highlighted former President George H.W. Bush’s visit to the Lied Center yesterday.

Bush answered questions about his career, the first Gulf War, his son’s presidency, President-elect Barack Obama and the future of the Republican Party during a one-hour question-and-answer session administered by Bill Lacy, director of the Dole Institute of Politics.

Bush also received the Robert J. Dole Leadership Prize from the Dole Institute of Politics. Jonathan Earle, associate director of the institute, said that Bush was the first former president to receive the award.

“In preparing for the interview, the most difficult part wasn’t figuring out what to ask him,” Lacy said. “With a resume as extensive as his, the hardest part was figuring out how to narrow down the questions to fit them within the hour.”

Following Lacy’s interview, members of the Student Advisory Board took turns posing questions that people across the country had submitted.

Alex Rock, a Lawrence senior who serves on the Student Advisory Board, said eight questions were chosen out of the 3,000 submissions.

High-ranking Kansas politicians also attended the event, including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Sam Brownback and Rep. Jerry Moran.

A few interruptions occurred throughout the evening. A discussion about the Gulf War was interrupted when a student shouted that Bush had ordered the use of uranium weapons and accused him of killing U.S. troops.

“The Dole Institute of Politics encourages civil and respectful discourse,” Lacy said to the student. “My suggestion to you if you can’t be civil is to leave.”

Lied Center officials made the student leave moments later, which was followed by applause from the audience.

Later, three students began shouting from the back of the room, to which the former president responded, “I can’t hear, unfortunately. I’m deaf and old,” eliciting a roar of laughter from the audience.

Travis Kimple, a Beloit sophomore who attended the forum, said he thought Bush was very entertaining and did a good job engaging the audience.

“He covered a broad spectrum of topics in a thoughtful and humorous manner,” he said. “I hope the Dole Institute does more things like this.”

Here are seven of the 23 questions Bush answered in the forum:

We’ve just had a pretty decisively election. The Republican Party was pretty decisively defeated. What’s the future of the Republican Party look like?

Remember in 1964: Republicans were sitting around wringing their hands after we got wiped out in the Goldwater years — Lyndon Johnson winning by huge majorities, losing many seats in the Congress. Two years later we elected 60 new Republicans — and I was one of them — to the House of Representatives and we started back. So what goes around comes around. I’ve called President-elect Obama and I’ve wished him well, but he has huge problems, not of his making, that he has to contend with, and I think everybody should get behind him and support him. But when it comes to how we’re going to try to do these different things… I think those of us who differ with him on certain policies have the obligation to speak out. It won’t be us. It will be younger people who are elected… But I wish him well. I called him and told him that.

What advice would you give President-elect Obama?

Well I think I’d be one of the last people he’d turn to for advice, but I’d just say do your job. Don’t be deterred by interruptions and the press on your case and all of that. But do what you think is right… and sell the American people on it. And if you get hammered when some legislation doesn’t turn out, stay in the game. I think he’ll do pretty well to begin, but once the reality sets in, (he’ll realize) this is a huge job and there are enormous problems out there that one president can’t solve. And when the opposition says, “We’re not going to go along with that,” he’s going to find the tough realities of politics.

Many people know you best for the first Gulf War. Tell us about the coalition of allies you assembled when you chose to go in there and take Saddam’s military out.

That was a controversy. The Democrats made it a party-line vote whether to give the president the authority to fulfill the United Nations’ resolution to use whatever means necessary to end the aggression against Kuwait… But we were able to attract enough Democrats to vote for giving the President that authority... So it was controversial, but we forget that because of the superior way our troops acted to prevent this (Iraqi aggression against Kuwait). A lot of people were wondering, “Well can our military really do the job?” So it was scary running up to it. It’s the toughest decision a president has to make when you’re sending someone else’s son or daughter into armed conflict…

Everybody was outraged by the brutality of Saddam Hussein. He would gas people in the neighborhoods and all of that, so it was pretty easy to mobilize the world against him. We had many nations on our side in the coalition and they all determined that the objective would be not to kill him, but to simply end the aggression.

You chose not to go into Baghdad and get rid of Hussein. What was your thinking on that?

The objective… was to eliminate the aggression — get them out of the way. And I often wonder what would have happened if he would have picked up his weapons and moved back to the border between Iraq and Kuwait. We’d have been in a real dilemma. But he didn’t… Once we had the victory, I didn’t have any second thoughts about redefining the mission.

What was it like to have your son follow in your footsteps, and what advice have you given him?

I vowed that I would not be the old guy standing around, “You got to listen to me son.” We just don’t work that way in our family. He won and he surrounded himself with very good people… So I’m very proud of him. I think he’s taken a lot of unfair hits mainly from some of the journalists at The New York Times. We’re a very close family, and I will be delighted on January 20 when he gets back into the Bush family and out of this daily crossfire. But I’m proud. I stay out of the criticism business. He’s probably had some differences from what I might have done had I been there, but I vowed from day one that I would not be the old man writing notes: “Do it this way son. I agree with this policy or that.” And it’s been tough on our family because you don’t like to see your son get hurt or hammered away, but he does not feel sorry for himself. He does the best he can, and he does it with honor. I’ll be glad to get him back home.

During the current financial crisis, do you think that the historically conservative stances in support of cutting taxes and loosening business regulations can meet the needs of the middle class and decrease poverty in our country?

I’d say we can’t do it right now. The world is facing a financial crisis… Now they’re orchestrating a bailout. You just can’t let a lot of people get thrown out of their jobs if the government can step in. Having said that, you shouldn’t advocate that this is what I’m going to do from now on… You don’t want to give up on your fundamental principles if they’re right, but you have to adjust for the times.

Considering your past relationship with China, what guidance would you provide world leaders regarding China’s role in solving our environmental and pollution problems?

I think it’s absolutely essential that the United States stay involved with China. I served there as ambassador before we had full relations back in the 70s, and I’ve been back there many times since leaving the presidency… I don’t think they’re seeking hegemony; I don’t think they’re seeking control over their neighbors as they were back in the post-Vietnam War days. I think they want to be a member of the world community… They share a significant role in the future… They’re on the move, and we ought not to sit on the sidelines sniping at them. We’ve got to stay involved with them.

— Edited by Adam Mowder

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