Funny how Bush always says that the historian’s will judge him in the future and they will judge him as being a great leader and visionary. What makes it so funny is the fact that during his first year in office (two months after 9/11) he issued an executive order protecting Presidential records:
Overturning the Bush Executive Order. Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records are supposed to be released to historians and the public 12 years after the end of a presidential administration. In November 2001, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13233 which overturned an executive order issued by President Reagan and gave current and former presidents and vice presidents broad authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely. The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 would nullify the Bush executive order and establish procedures to ensure the timely release of presidential records.
Transparency in government -eh? Looks like the Democrats are trying to get rid of that protection Bush has put in. Yesterday the amendments passed 333-93 in the House. During the debate yesterday Henry Waxman gave a great reason why this bill is so important:
What is interesting about this is that one other President tried to stop these records from being released. That President was Nixon. Pretty interesting coincidence there.
Now the question remains if Bush will sign this into law or issue a signing statement saying that he doesn’t have to follow it. We learn from our past – a concept Bush doesn’t understand.