PerspectiveNo, President George W. Bush Did Not Undermine American Power and International Order

What president refused to attack Iran over its nuclear program? Refused to attack North Korea over its nuclear program? Resisted strong pressure to attack Syria over its weapons of mass destruction program? Did not undertake any major use of force without first securing congressional authorization by strong bipartisan majorities? Did not undertake any major use of force without participation from dozens of allied and partner nations? Significantly expanded the international free trade system? Spoke out repeatedly against the growing attitudes of “isolationism, protectionism, and nativism” — especially within his own party? Spoke out against Islamophobia and reached out to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world in an effort to avoid stigmatizing Islam while conducting counter-terrorism operations?

Peter Feaver and William Inboden write in War on the Rocks that if you guessed George W. Bush, on whose National Security Council staff they both served, you are correct. If you did not guess Bush, it might be because you read Fareed Zakaria’s recent article in Foreign Affairs, which regrettably distorts the Bush record and fails to deal candidly with (read: barely mentions) the records of the other post-Cold War presidencies. This is all the more unfortunate because Zakaria is one of the most prominent and thoughtful observers of the world scene, and he makes some crucial points about the importance and fragility of the international order and the decline of American influence. This decline, as he describes, is a complex and tragic story that blends structural factors in the international system and deliberate choices made by the United States, its leaders, and its people.

But rather than do the hard work of showing how each administration had a mixed record, Zakaria instead adopts the tired conventional wisdom that seems to blame everything on the 43^rd president — and on just a tiny handful of the decisions he took. In so doing, Zakaria seems to pretend that neither the 42^nd nor the 44^th president did anything that had negative consequences for America’s national interests or global standing.