The Hill: Ask George W. Bush how to set a high bar for American greatness
Bridget Johnson, senior fellow with the news and public policy group at Haym Salomon Center and D.C. bureau chief for PJ Media

“…In his [2003] State of the Union address, [President George W.] Bush called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) ‘a work of mercy beyond all current international efforts to help the people of Africa.’ … Bush … said in 2015 that he found it ‘morally unacceptable for the United States to stand aside while millions of people died from a disease we could treat.’ In that single quote, with his legacy of action on the crisis, Bush illuminated what makes America great. America is greatest and strongest when it extends a hand to those who, by political conventional wisdom, it should care about the least. … Bush rightly pointed out that healthy, whole societies make stable economic and security partners, while those crumbling under crises are prone to become ‘exporters of danger.’ An America on the right path embraces righteousness and doesn’t rank other lives as less worthy of protection. PEPFAR sets that high bar, and challenges us to accurately define and share even more American greatness” (11/2).