You probably saw the MSNBC graphic yesterday; The one with the names of the presidents appearing in florid script. Five of them appeared prominently, as if they were credits from a movie title. They were:
George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Franklin Roosevelt
Ronald Reagan (I know, I know)
Barack Obama
To me, this is their 'first draft of history' - their prediction that schoolchildren in 200 years and ever after will learn about these presidents first. We've been concerned with the Bush legacy, wondering whether he will be universally reviled or given the media rehab treatment that Nixon and Reagan got (and don't look now but they're giving Newt the Emerald City makeover as we write).
I'm beginning to think there will be a third option: Bush as footnote.
As far as Obama is concerned, he is the first black president, and that will never change. Ever. He could simply show up for the next four years and his name will appear in boldface, outshining every president within 30 years in both directions. We know he will go far beyond that.
As far as Reagan is concerned, it is likely that he will drop from that list above. After all, what transitory period did Reagan come to power in that compares to today? Yes there was economic malaise, a couple of oil scares and a hostage crisis, but the 70s was a tea party of a decade compared to the 00's, and most everyone knows that. It's very likely that Reagan was on that list only to appease today's wingnuts. Fine.
Two hundred years from now, whether we're flying around in atomic cars, there will be wingnuts. There will be a descendant of Karl Rove who puzzles and schemes his right wing dreams, and he will send bullet points via mindlink, and his followers will parrot them blindly.
By then, president Barack Obama will have streets, mountains, statues, banks, and probably a candy bar named for him, and the guy who came before will be an obscure answer (in the form of a question) on a game show.
It will be the wingnuts who remind everybody about president Bush. They will remind children and adults that the first black president only became so because the guy before him was so hated for doing what was right. More level-headed people might add that the previous president was rightfully disgraced, and that there was even talk of international tribunals for him and his crew.
But that will be about all. After that, American history might be treated as coming in eras, which began with Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Obama. Who knows what else may happen before future children are sent to crack their history books?
Bush, while not reviled, and not rehabbed, may simply disappear. I'm okay with that.