They Said He Had To Go To Rehab, I Said No, No, No

The reconstructive surgery on the Bush 43 presidency continues as McClatchy's Jim Rosen would like you to know that Dubya is the "forgotten man" behind the Arab Spring (according to Huckleberry Hound and the AEI, at least.)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a military lawyer who's served active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, thinks that's a premature judgment pending the outcome of fast-moving events that may take a decade or longer to play out in the Middle East.

"President Bush deserves credit for creating a spirit that even in the Middle East, where grudges are held forever, things can change and Islamic governments can accommodate the rule of law, tolerance, democracy and other concepts we take for granted," Graham said.

Daniele Pletka, a foreign policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, said the replacement of repressive regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan with democratic governments, however fragile, is a historic triumph for Bush.

"Of course he should be getting credit because he socialized the world to the notion that somehow democracy was possible in the Arab world," she said. "This was an almost ridiculous notion before his presidency. And we shouldn't discount the liberation of 50 million Muslims who'd lived under oppressive Afghan and Iraqi rule."

Granted, Rosen does put a number of very valid reasons as to why Bush continues to be ignored in the article.  But at best, it's "Earth is flat, views differ" journalism at its finest.  The real tell is while the notion in the article involves whether or not Dubya should get credit, President Obama isn't mentioned at all in the piece.

Kind of telling if you ask me.