Pinch me.  Am I dreaming?  I knew this day would come, but I never knew how good it would actually feel.  For as long as I can remember, there’s either been a dick or a Bush in the White House, but now, as cliche as it sounds, it really does seem like things are starting to change.  Despite the darkness of the past twenty-five eight years, however, there have been some moments of light.  It took me a while to composite this list, but here is my Top 5 best things George Walker Bush did while in office.

1. PEPFAR (Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief): Established in 2003, PEPFAR (which really is the dumbest acronym I’ve ever heard… “Emergency Plan”?  Sounds like something my seven year old cousin would say) was a 5 year commitment of $15 billion to those countries in Africa and the Caribbean that are the most devastated by HIV/AIDS, which include South Africa, Rwanda, Namibia, Botswana, and Haiti, to name a few.  In 2008, PEPFAR was renewed and expanded to $48 Billion through 2013.  US Foreign Aid is now three times what it was when Clinton left office.  And despite criticism for its abstinence-only programs, etc., Joe Biden himself has called PEPFAR “the single most significant thing the president has ever done.”  When you consider how Bush Sr. handled the domestic AIDS epidemic during his own presidency, it is remarkable how much his son has done. To read more about the program go here, here, or here.
2. Protection of Oceans: Days before leaving office, President Bush made environmental history as the number one conservator of marine wilderness.  President Bush, perhaps aware of his otherwise dismal record of environmentalism, took it upon himself to build his legacy as the greatest protector of oceans in the history of conservation, creating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument.  Since 2006 the Bush admin has preserved nearly 200,000 sq miles of Pacific Ocean, adding three new “marine monuments” on January 6, 2008.  Under the Antiquities Act (signed into law under Theodore Roosevelt, often cited for his role in the creation of the National Park) the President can designate an area restricted or protected by executive order.  
3. Diversified Cabinet: During the eight years he was in office, Bush appointed the most diverse cabinet in history, up until now.  Colin Powell, followed by Condoleeza Rice, was our country’s first African American Secretary of State; Alberto Gonzales, our first Hispanic Attorney General.  Former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan, is the first Asian American woman ever appointed to the cabinet.  In a bizarre moment during the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West famously blurted out on live television, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”  I beg to differ!  It seems pretty clear to me that, while Bush may not care about poor people, in his own special Texan country way, he really isn’t a racist.
4. Signs Gay Rights Law: I can barely believe it myself, but on December 23 Bush signed into law the the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008, which makes it mandatory for businesses to roll over retirement benefits to a same-sex partner in the event of the employee’s death.  I imagine Dick Cheney was out having his annual cardiac arrest that day, because somehow this relative victory for gay rights passed without much controversy or discussion.  The website GayPatriot.com, which describes itself as the Internet home for the gay conservative, goes as far as to suggest “by signing this into law, President George W. Bush has, by law, done more for gays than any other President in history.”
5. …: Well, five things was actually fairly hard to come up with.  I could be cynical and say the greatest thing, perhaps, that Bush has done is temporarily cripple the Republican Party, contributing to the Democratic success in the 2008 election.  I could say, he’s done so much damage to this country the only direction we have left to go is upward.  I could say that he created an atmosphere of political discourse unlike any other time in my generation.  I guess, as far as 80% of the country is concerned, the best thing Former President George Bush ever did was wave goodbye, one final time.