George H.W. Bush: Part II

This is the second of a two-part biography on George H.W. Bush and was amazingly well done. I was surprised how the folks who made this film seemed to genuinely like the man--and this is much more of a homage to the man than anything else. Those on the far ends of the political extremes won't like it but I think a strongly ideological biography would be pretty boring and difficult to enjoy for most folks. This could be said about all the presidential biographies I've seen on "The American Experience"--such as those on FDR, Truman, LBJ, Nixon and Reagan.

This episode picks up where the last one left off--just as the Gulf War was about to occur. Not surprisingly, as this was a defining moment in his presidency, it takes up much of the episode. In addition to the war and its aftermath, topics covered were the savings and load bailout (briefly discussed), Bush's violation of his 'no new taxes' campaign promise, consensus-building at the UN and in Congress, his huge popularity increase and propitious drop, the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, economic woes in the US, Ross Perot and Bill Clinton and how bad Bush was at pointing out his accomplishments (especially in the fall of communism), George as a family man and the post-Presidency years. Overall, a very nice portrait of the man and a very thorough show--and a very well made one as well.

Interestingly, there are a few observations about the show: At times, the show seemed much more pro-Bush and anti-Reagan in that it blamed Reagan for the S&L crisis and deficit spending. It also attributed much of the economic boom during the Clinton years to Bush's policies.

There's no mention of Tiananmen Square and George W. Bush was not interviewed for the show (though Barbara and Jeb were).