There are only two living Americans who have completed the legal maximum of two terms as President of the United States: Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W Bush.  How each party has treated its former President at its 2012 convention speaks volumes about  how each party views its own recent record of leadership of this country.

Bill Clinton was honored by his party last night  (September 5) with the opportunity to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term.  His prominence on the program is a sign that the Democratic Party respects his  record of  eight years in the White House, despite  his failure to reform health care,  the loss of  a Democratic majority in Congress during his first term, and the lurid  Monica  Lewinsky scandal  that lead to Clinton's  impeachment, only the second for a president in US history. (1) 

The Democrats honor Clinton because his two terms, together with the first eight months after he completed  his service, were the last time that America was happy.  The stock market rose steadily, unemployment remained remarkably low, and  his last four budgets  produced a surplus, which was used to reduce the National Debt.  Except for  USFY 1969,  those were the only years in living memory that the federal government actually reduced its level of debt.  Although Clinton mentioned his  terms as President several times in his speech, he never mentioned signing the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act,  which had  prevented commercial banks from speculating in the securities and derivatives market.  This de-regulation of banking,  with broad support from both major parties,  opened the door to the abuses that triggered the financial crisis of September, 2008.  

Except for the brief air-war over Serbia, American armed forces were not involved in war during  most of Clinton's two terms as President.  Younger voters cannot even remember a time when  the US was not  fighting  in  Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan or anywhere else.  As James Carville once asked, "What didn't you like: the peace or the prosperity?"

So, did the Republicans point with pride at the two terms that their last President George W Bush served?  No.  The only Republican presidents  they remember   are Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, and only Reagan inspires them today.  There are legions of Reagan-Republicans, but Bush-Republicans are about as common as  the T Rex.   Why?

Maybe luck played a role, but  while Clinton's  terms coincided with the development of internet commerce, GWB's   terms were bracketed by two September disasters:  the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001,  and  the financial collapse of September, 2008.  The first of these led to the War on Terror, the invasion of Afghanistan and the USAPATRIOT Act.  Although Iraq had nothing to do with  9/11,  the terrorist attacks created the political climate  for the invasion of Iraq in March, 2003.   Usually war means higher taxes, but  Bush officially estimated  that neither war would cost anything, so  taxes were actually reduced  while the US  borrowed  the billions that they did cost.   At the same time,  President Bush created  Medicare Part D, which helped seniors pay for prescription medicines, with  broad bi-partisan support.   With the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act,  Bush introduced unprecedented federal  funding and regulation into state education programs. 

Considering how  GWB's  presidency ended,  it is no surprise that he was not invited to speak at  the 2012  Republican National Convention.  But I say that the reason  he was not even mentioned  (per media accounts) is deeper:  those who run the Republican Party today  are viscerally opposed to Bush's  record of big spending, big deficits, and big federal intervention.  When he was President,  the only Republican to object  consistently to these policies was  Rep. Ron Paul; the Democrats  mostly went along with him, either because they agreed (as in Medicare D and NCLB)  or to appear patriotic (as in the wars and the USAPATRIOT Act).  When Bush, at the behest of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, called for a federal bail-out of  the big banks and AIG,  he initiallly got more support from Democrats (including Senator Obama) than from Republicans. But once Bush left the White House, the Republican Party fell into the hands of  Grover Norquist, the Koch brothers and the Tea Party activists who really want minimal government and  minimal taxes.

So,  the reason that the Democrats listened to Clinton,  but the Republicans did not listen to Bush,  is that  the Clinton legacy is at the center of today's Democratic Party, and  the Bush legacy is worth nothing to the  Tea Party types who  now lead the GOP.

Gerald S Glazer 

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(1) Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 after the House Judiciary Committee approved four  articles of impeachment, so he was never actually impeached.  Both Andrew Johnson and Clinton  were acquitted by the Senate.