February, 1952

Whenever the praetorian class gets into serious trouble, they shudder, bulge their eyes and start invoking the hallowed example of Harry Truman's lonely courage to keep their spirits up.
That would be the same Harry Truman that the praetorians and punditariat of 1952 were hell bent on driving from office by fair means or foul.
Such is the case today with that Laughing Young Senescence Jeff Jacoby who compares his tattered hero George Bush to the late President Truman.
As I've said before, the problem with Jeff is, not so much his conservatism as his glibness, superficiality and charmless gullibility.
He forgets that February 1952 (The Month of Truman's 22% Approval Rating) was a killing time for Harry S. Truman, McCarthy was running amok, the electorate was pissed off at him for firing General MacArthur and the war in Korea was at a stalemate.
The Jeff Jacoby's of that far off era were calling him every name in the book and braying for impeachment....when they weren't bellowing for atomic war and apocalypse now. When Truman left office, Allen Drury noted in his Senate Diary that the President was a feisty gamecock whose blundering had nonetheless brought the World to the brink of war and the US to the brink of defeat worldwide.
Yipes!
Did Harry fly off to an army depot to denounce his opponents as dupes and cowards on Veteran's Day? Did he get loaded up on something and go staggering through press appearances like a berserk rock star? Did he retreat to Camp David to rage and pout?
Did Truman lie to get us into Korea and then lie about the lying???
No.
But he didn't exactly prosper either, in due course a now forgotten Tennessee pol named Estes Kefauver beat Truman in the New Hampshire Primary and compelled the President to decline re-election. In effect for all his now celebrated heroism and Missouri contrariness, Harry threw in the towel after almost eight years at the top.
People forget that part of the story.
In time, much of Harry's pugnacity and good judgement was vindicated, but we shouldn't conflate that with George Bush Jr's stupidity, bluster and infantile stubborness...because after all there is a difference between being right and being an angry self deluded freak.
So you see, there really wasn't any comeback for Truman in February 1952, he kept on with his job, did his best for the troops in the field and remained honest and upright.
Very little of the same can be said of President Bush.

Sick
Demented
Typical