Tuesday night's video tribute to George Bush and his presidency presented him as a decisive leader whose "tough stand" against Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait "let the world know we had regained our strength" after Vietnam. That much was unsurprising.
More startling was that the video highlighted only one other legacy of the Bush presidency: his signing of the Clean Air Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which the video narrator described as among his "proudest achievements." Hello? These two laws, which dramatically expanded the reach of government -- the ADA in particular has been wildly abused -- remain at the center of the conservative critique of the Bush presidency. A bright spot: The video at least didn't tout the deeply flawed 1991 "civil rights" bill as one of Bush's "proudest achievements." Then again, his nomination of Clarence Thomas -- for which he should be deeply proud -- didn't make the list either.