My Reflections on the George W. Bush Clan’s 25th Reunion

For most, it was a celebration. But for many of us, the reunion also felt a bit like a wake. Because while we toasted something we’d helped create, we mourned much of what had been lost.

Last weekend, members of George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential team (225 in all) returned to Austin, Texas, to toast the 25th anniversary of an incredible collective effort that resulted in a good number of them landing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The gathering was reflective and sentimental. Remember, thanks to a tumultuous recount saga that was finally decided by the Supreme Court, the outcome of that contest wasn’t clear until after a drawn-out overtime of just over a month. So we had never shared that Champagne-popping moment to hug and fist-bump one another after toiling so long in the trenches.

This time—a generation later—there were a lot of high fives and variations of, “Can you believe the roller-coaster ride we went on back then?” But there were also a lot of eye rolls and hushed whispers of, “Can you believe the roller-coaster ride we’re on right now?!” (Neither Bush nor former vice president Dick Cheney was on hand.)

A former Democrat, I had crossed the bridge to the GOP around 1996. I’d been attracted, in no small part, to the free trade, free market approach of the Republican Party. But the very week of our conclave, I felt myself in a kind of upside-down, Alice Through the Looking Glass–esque limbo. President Donald Trump had literally upended free trade by imposing a radical and unprecedented tariff regime. And the nation and the world had recoiled in response. The so-called free market was in a global free fall.

The shattered norms made the picture all too clear: Trump had completely refashioned the GOP into something bearing little resemblance to the party I’d joined because of my belief in Bush’s message of compassionate conservatism, as he referred to it.

Bush had called immigration “a blessing and a strength.” But even as the Trump team admitted last week that it had mistakenly deported a migrant father to a brutal El Salvador prison, the administration challenged in court any obligation it had to get him out and bring him home.

In a similar vein, Bush had tried to secure a strong education safety net for all young people, working closely with Senator Ted Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, to pass federal legislation requiring that states establish standards and accountability to ensure that no child would be left behind or subject to “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” Since taking office, Trump and his minions have been seeking to virtually eliminate any federal role in education. On and on it goes.

After 9/11, Bush tried, among other things, to expand democracy overseas, with limited success. Trump, in contrast, appears to be currying favor with autocrats while limiting democratic freedoms here at home. In addition, Bush labored mightily to fight authoritarianism abroad by supporting nonmilitary broadcast operations overseas, such as Voice of America, which for decades had used radio and television outlets to spread messages of freedom. He appointed me to VOA’s governing board. Trump has begun dismantling the whole enterprise.

Perhaps Bush’s most enduring legacy is his PEPFAR program, which helps provide assistance to people around the world with HIV/AIDS. By the government’s estimate, that program has helped save 26 million lives. Trump has frozen the initiative.

None of this was lost on most of the reunion attendees. Conversations and remarks were laced longingly with words like honor, integrity, decency, character.

In his remarks before the assembled, Bush campaign chairman Don Evans, who became a Cabinet secretary in the administration, asserted: “The president’s core beliefs formed our ‘compassionate conservative’ agenda—a message that resonated with voters looking for a leader who would bring honor, dignity, respect, and a moral compass to the Oval Office…. I can’t tell you how many reporters told me how they admired our team for being respectful, kind, hardworking, and professional.”

It’s not like Bush had a copyright on those qualities or aspirations. Many past candidates and presidents, both Democratic and Republican, mirrored those ideals. But you sure don’t hear those expressions today—or anything like them. And if you do, they’re followed by accusations of weakness or wokeness.

I’m not here to preach that we were right. Or better. Last November, voters clearly expressed their preference for a Republican approach without much empathy or compassion. And a preference for rule breakers over rule makers.

It seems quaint today, but when George W. Bush called someone a “good man,” it was the highest of compliments—a seemingly simple characterization that encompassed a deep well of traits essential to the success of mankind. Being “good” was not only an aspiration, but the ultimate achievement of a life well lived. It was also part of the underpinning of democratic governance: an attempt to serve the public good.

To be clear, my sentiments are not shared by everyone who was at the Austin proceedings. And strong supporters of the current administration and its policies were certainly in attendance. But there was also a clear consensus among this group that we sure were glad we had an opportunity to serve then and not now.

It was clear that 2000 was a different time. A simpler time. A kinder time.

For a while in the 2010s, roadside billboards appeared around the country featuring Bush smiling goofily alongside the words “Miss Me Yet?”

I sure do.