Bush's "Went to China Moment"

As the Bush presidency comes to an end, one thing that seems to have been overlooked is his failure to capture/kill Osama Bin Laden.

It's hard to see what the Bush years will mean ten years out, but with the economy in the crapper, two wars waging with no end in sight and the U.S. constitution used as a place mat, it's hard to put a positive spin on his legacy.

Nixon was similarly reviled, but decades later his reputation took an upswing with the emergence of China as a global economic power. If peace (or a semblance thereof) does come to the Middle East, Bush's reputation could receive a similar polishing.

But imagine he had captured/killed bin Laden. The former would have been preferred - bringing the terrorist to justice, have him put in chains in front of the world and let the very system that bin Laden tried to destroy, destroy him. Very fitting. Certainly the blow back would have been tremendous, but it would have been the moment that people would look back on as a definite milestone in the Bush presidency.

Another thought - what if Obama finds bin Laden? Couple that with getting the economy back on track, and Bush's reputation would sink to new lows.