Thanking President Bush- Even Liberals Doing Their Part

As a part of my theme on thanking Bush the next couple of months I saw this piece at all places Talking Point Memo.

The Election of the First Black President Owes A Lot to George W. Bush (In a Good Way)

By M.J. Rosenberg - November 6, 2008, 7:35AM
Would America have elected Barack Obama if white Americans had not gotten accustomed to seeing (in succession) two African-American Secretaries of State? I don't think so. Before Bush, African-Americans were appointed to some good posts but not to our #1 foreign policy job. Two African Americans (one with a pretty odd first name) served as America's face to the world. That eased Obama's way. It is not Tiger Woods in whose footsteps Obama is walking -- it's Rice and Powell.
Fact is, "W" never gave any evidence of holding racist attitudes. I'm not talking about his programs which, to put it mildly, did not help African-Americans unless they were in the upper tax brackets. I'm talking about old fashioned racism -- or even just the slur the occasionally slips out of the mouth of even our most liberal leaders.
Same with Arabs and Muslims. I'm not talking about Guantanamo. That is an ugly policy, but it's policy. But Bush, after 9/11, never resorted to anti-Arab or Muslim stereotypes. He drew distinctions between terrorists and Arabs, unlike this year's GOP campaign. He was the first President to celebrate Muslim holy days, both at the White House and in a Mosque. Had he not done these things, Arabs and Muslims might have experienced not just hate crimes but pogroms.
So I give him credit. When he said yesterday that Obama's election was "awesome," he wasn't choosing a random word. He meant it. He thinks he helped make it happen. In fact, he did.

Related-

President Bush A Friend to Catholics Till the End