George H. W. Bush: Difference between revisions

{{presidents|[[Ronald Reagan]]|[[Bill Clinton]]}}

 

{{quote|"We're going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like [[The Waltons]] and less like [[The Simpsons]]."|Speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention. Two days later...}}

{{quote|"Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're all praying for the end of the depression, too."|'''Bart Simpson''', delivering a memorable version of [[The Stinger]] in ''[[The Simpsons]]''.}}

 

 

 

[[Overshadowed by Awesome|Often seen as being in Ronald Reagan's shadow]]--a lot of Reagan Democrats who had liked Reagan and voted GOP in [[The Eighties]] defected back to the Democrats to vote for Clinton during the '92 election--Bush had a much more nerdy and geeky image than [[The Ace|Reagan's movie star persona]] and wasn't as good as making speeches, but was nevertheless quite accomplished in the field of foreign policy. He had been an ambassador and later served as the head of the CIA. As Reagan's VP, he had been a part of many internal policy debates, and was much more decisive than his then-image would imply. He came into office at a time when the Soviet Union and the communist bloc were collapsing, and many credit him with presiding over an orderly end to the Cold War, though he and [[Margaret Thatcher]] apparently had some very heated discussions during this period over what to do. He also fought the first [[Gulf War]], declaring a "New World Order" of international cooperation (providing fodder for [[Conspiracy Theorist|conspiracy theorists]] to this day), when Saddam Hussein took the weapons Reagan, Brezhnev and Mitterand [[The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend|had given him to fight theocratic Iran]] and instead invaded Kuwait in an attempt to corner the market on the region's oil and be able to essentially hold the West and the rest of the world hostage. Backed by broad international support, Bush sent in the armed forces--led by Generals Norman Schwartzkopf and Colin Powell--and successfully drove Hussein's forces out of Kuwait (to this day, Bush still has an extremely high favorability rating among grateful Kuwaitis). He then wisely chose not to go all the way to Baghdad and depose Saddam, and pulled the troops out in mid-1991 (arguing that an invasion of Iraq would become a quagmire...a lesson [[Irony|his own son didn't learn until after launching the Iraq War]]). That being said, although Bush was very accomplished on the foreign policy front, it was domestic issues that sunk his reelection bid. Running on a promise of "Read my lips--No new taxes!", [[What the Hell, Hero?|he did in fact raise taxes after being pressured by the Democratically-controlled Congress]]. It ended up being a [[Never Live It Down]] moment for Bush, as many voters--especially Republicans--felt betrayed by this action. A recession also played a large role in hampering his reelection efforts, and he lost to Arkansas Governor [[Bill Clinton]], who had been a key player in the Democratic Leadership Caucus, a group of moderate-minded Democrats. Many have also blamed third party candidate Ross Perot for drawing many Republican votes away from Bush.

He was the first sitting Vice President to win election to the presidency since [[Martin Van Buren]], 152 years earlier.

 

* [[Arch Enemy]]: [[Saddam Hussein]]

* [[Badass]]: In 1989, during his first televised speech to the nation, Bush held up a bag of cocaine purchased at Lafayette Park, using it as an example of the need to combat recreational drug use.

* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: To [[Ronald Reagan]].

* [[Iconic Item]]: Do his [http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1988/1101881121_400.jpg Coke-bottle trifocals] count?

** Some just remember him for the fact that he is [[George W. Bush]]'s father.

** Others just remember how he famously vomited on the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister.

* [[The Eighties]]: Bush was a major political figure throughout the decade.

** Despite being President for the first three years of the decade, people generally don't associate him with [[The Nineties]].

* [[What Could Have Been]]: It is widely debated how differently world events would have turned out if he had overthrown [[Saddam Hussein]] at the end of the [[Gulf War]].

** During the 1988 election season, Republican staff members were wary about choosing Dan Quayle for the VP slot. They wanted someone with some star power. And for a very brief period, they suggested to Bush that he give the nod to a moderate Eisenhower Republican movie star who was then-currently serving as Mayor of Carmel, California: '''[[Clint Eastwood]]'''. That's right, we ''could'' have had Clint Eastwood as a ''Vice'' President Badass, and perhaps someday he could have been a [[Badass in Charge]] if he'd become President. That being said, the idea was dropped after a very short period of time, and in any case, Mr Eastwood never planned to stay in politics after his Mayoral term was over anyway. Still, it's cool fantasizing about how awesome things could have been...

* [[You Are What You Hate]]: During his Vice Presidency and Presidency, he regularly spoke out against drug and alcohol abuse.....while [[George W. Bush|one of his sons]] was an alcoholic.

** Actually this would seem to be the exact ''reason'' why he wanted to wage a war against drug and alcohol addiction. Having a son going through alcohol addiction meant that President Bush had a quite understandable distaste for drug/alcohol abuse and likely he thought of it in a "Now [[It's Personal]]" type of way.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Bush was a very competent foreign policy President who steered America through the 1989 invasion of Panama, the fall of Communism in late 1989, the reunification of Germany in 1990, the Gulf War of 1990-1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to unanimous success and high approval ratings. However, as the world stabilized and attention turned instead to domestic issues through 1992, which Bush handled lacklusterly and admitted that he wasn't as interested in as foreign policy, his popularity tanked and voters happily voted him out in favor of Democratic challenger [[Bill Clinton]] later that year.

* [[Vindicated by History]]:

** [[Word of God]] says that the reason why Bush didn't overthrow Saddam Hussein at the end of the Gulf War is because he felt that overthrowing Hussein would lead to a long and messy occupation of Iraq that he wouldn't want the United States to be involved in. While many questioned his decision at the time, it was later justified as his prediction of [[Iraq War|a long and messy occupation]] came true when [[George W. Bush|his son]] overthrew Hussein 12 years later.

* [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]]: In January 1992, Bush was famously videotaped vomiting in the lap of then-Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa after falling ill at a state dinner.

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Appears in ''[[The Legend of Koizumi]]'', as his son [[George W. Bush]]'s [[Mahjong]] [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|teacher]], and an old Mahjong rival of the titular Junichiro Koizumi. He is later chosen as one of Earth's five [[Combat by Champion|Mahjong champions]] representing it in the tournament against the moon-based [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Fourth Reich]]. His is depicted here as a buff mountain of a man.

** Somewhat [[Hilarious in Hindsight]], considering he wound up losing his re-election bid to the then relatively unknown [[Bill Clinton]].

* James Cromwell portrays him as an [["Well Done, Son" Guy|exasperated yet enabling dad]] in [[Oliver Stone]]'s film ''W'', a biopic about [[George W. Bush]].

And later, in one of Jr.'s nightmares: '''Dream!Poppy''': A hundred years it took to build up the Bush name ''and you single-handedly destroyed it!'' }}

* He appears at the beginning of ''[[Under Siege]]'', giving the ship it's final sendoff.

 

* He visits McKinley High School in ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]''. Though he is never shown, the episode ends with Liz asking him a pointed political question.

* His puppet was a frequent visitor to ''[[D.C. Follies]]''

** Bush actually appeared on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', essentially imitating Dana Carvey's imitation of him ("Wouldn't be prudent.")

* One episode of ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' featured a Secret Service member interviewing the girls for a potential meet and greet with the president; Dorothy, an outspoken liberal, plans to chew him out. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|This backfires when he actually shows up.]]:

* The script of ''[[The Day After]]'' called for a Bush impersonator to make the presidential speech broadcast near the end of the film. For unknown reasons, the production actually used a voice actor who sounded like [[Ronald Reagan]], which prompted criticism (as the writer correctly forecast) from the political right; in later DVD releases, the speech is given by a stereotypically presidential voice unlike either Reagan or Bush.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Has one of the more epic introductions in ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' "TV Playhouse" segment "The X-Presidents", and they always lampoon his active post-presidential life. Whenever the team is summoned, he's [[Coitus Uninterruptus|having sex with Barbara]]. Whenever the X-First Ladies are summoned, [[Smoking Hot Sex|Barbara is smoking]].

* Bush 41 and his wife Barbara (in live action) introduce ''[[Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue]]''.

* ''[[Histeria!]]'' took his broccoli ban and made it the subject of a ''[[Green Eggs and Ham]]'' parody.

* Naturally, as the title character's father, he appeared frequently on ''[[Lil' Bush]]''.

* He can be seen talking on the telephone in the ''[[Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3]]'' episode "Reptiles in the Rose Garden", apparently unaware of Bowser uprooting the White House out of Washington DC.

 

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