A Kinder Gentler Nation

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George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was an American statesman and a member of the Republican Party.  He served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993, after serving as the 43rd Vice President of the United States, under President Ronald Reagan, from 1981 to 1989. He had also been a combat pilot, a congressman for the great state of Texas, an ambassador to The United Nations, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Subject: President George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) | Photographer: White House Photographic Office | As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

As you know,  I am a hardcore liberal democrat.  That being said, I always liked George Bush as president.  As far as republicans go, he was a good one.

Of course, he won me over when he championed the Americans with Disabilities Act.  I was also a fan of his "Thousand Points of Light" campaign, which encouraged volunteerism across America.

I could spend time talking about his policies when he was in the oval office, but what I'm really thinking about is how America reacted to his death.

Last week, party walls seemed to drop for awhile.  Republicans and Democrats, called a truce as they honored a fallen patriot.  For a few days we were all just Americans.  Trump even shook hands with Obama at the funeral.

If nothing else, it showed that we can come together as a nation when we want to.  Of course by the 7th, Washington got back to work.  However, remnants of cooperation lingered.

When senate committee members reviewed the evidence regarding Jamal Khasshogi's murder, both Republicans and Democrats were able to agree that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was most likely the culprit behind the murder.  For republicans, such as Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC), who usually defend Trump's position no matter what, to publicly disagree with the White House is phenomenal.  I'm not sure they would have publicly agree with the democrats before America united over George Bush's death.

I'm not suggesting that we're all going to start holding hands and singing Kumbaya in the woods, but I no longer see cooperation across party lines as impossible as it was a few weeks ago.  If we can come together over the death of an American hero, then perhaps we could learn to work together to make America a kinder gentler nation.