Somewhere amid the media coverage of President Barack Obama’s transition to power, experts and analysts weighed in on “The Bush Legacy.” All have tried to explain the man and his administration, and most blame him for the mess Obama has stepped into.

Listening to all of this talk, I can’t help but parallel Bush to Jack Nicholson’s character, Col. Nathan Jessop, the fictitious Marine commander from the film “A Few Good Men.” It is easy for us to view the character as he is presented — a narrow-minded, power-hungry monster. But the truth is, we give the task of defending our nation to men like Jessop for the very same reasons we don’t fully understand them. Jessop believes in something higher than himself, and will never compromise those beliefs, regardless of consequence or public opinion. In this way he is similar to our former President Bush.

I am not out to make Bush a martyr, nor do I believe he is guiltless in our current situation. In fact, he was often coarse on camera, often appeared uninformed and, some would say, was blind to his purpose. I fully expect him to be remembered as an unexceptional president. But I do credit him and his administration for the work they did in the last seven years of his time in office to keep the planes on the other side of the ocean. And he went about this task without compromise and without concern for public opinion.

In the next few months, Congress will work with Obama to dismantle the remains of the Bush administration (the Iraq War, the PATRIOT Act, etc.). Will these actions weaken our country and leave us open to another attack? I pray not. But like Jessop reminds us, this is a world with walls, and men with guns patrol those walls. I hope that we as a country don’t find ourselves echoing Jessop’s sentiment in regards to the Bush administration — “ … you want me on that wall; you need me on that wall.”

Kevin Floore

mechanical engineering junior