2018 will be remembered for three major funerals and their affects will be far reaching. The real America, the real United States of America was on full display – day-after-day on national/worldwide news — to give respectful farewells to legendary Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, steadfast First Lady Barbara Bush and now the consummate gentleman-statesman President George H.W. Bush. All three were giants among humanity. All three are role models to be emulated by generations to come.

President Bush’s funeral took the cake. My goodness this was the most elaborate six-day period of national mourning comparable only to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Of course the circumstances were different and in different times but they were both honored in very similar ways.

President Donald Trump as noticeably absent from McCain’s and Barbara Bush’s funerals for a variety of reasons, but he was front-and-center on this one sitting in the front row of the National Cathedral in Washington along with the four living past presidents – Obama, Clinton, Bush43, and Carter – plus their First Ladies. There they were sitting together. The Trump’s shook hands with the Obama’s and smiled politely, but not with the Clintons. Body language experts had a field day analyzing these five couples on the front row of history. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton looked especially glum as she sat in the middle of the group.

For President Bush’s funeral President Trump obviously did everything he could to accommodate the long-planned-out series of ceremonies to remember the nation’s 41st president. In doing so President Trump’s standing with the general public inevitably will go up. He rose to the occasion on this one showing great respect and compassion for the Bush family.

Much has been said and written about the somewhat ‘odd-couple’ relationship that developed between Presidents Bush41 and Clinton after they both were out of office. As the story goes in about 2004 Clinton approached Bush suggesting they join forces to raise money for victims of the Haitian earthquake and Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana – and they did much to everyone’s surprise. The two had been vigorous political foes with Bush losing his quest for a second term to Bill Clinton in 1992.

Presidents Clinton and Bush went on tour and visited Haiti and Louisiana seeking donations and raising millions along the way. It was about this time that the Clinton Foundation was formed. To this day many questions — about the millions raised for Haiti that Haiti did not get – exist. These questions never have been investigated to any great degree and they need to be.

Looking back to 2004, former President Clinton needed former President Bush much more than Bush needed Clinton. Having Bush as a side kick ridin’ shotgun gave the Clinton fundraising machine a big boost of credibility. This ‘team’ was political maneuvering of the highest order. Some could say Clinton took advantage of Bush whose intensions were honorable but were Clinton’s? Seems as if anytime former President Clinton gets near fundraising all sorts of problems with scamming, skimming and murkiness seem to develop.

President Trump has said many times he wanted the Clinton Foundation to be investigated along with other Clinton related issues and this has yet to occur under Trump, but a new U.S. Attorney General is waiting in the wings. The president is expected soon to name a replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions who resigned or was fired depending how you look at it.

As that plays out and a new U.S. Attorney General is confirmed by the new Republican Senate in January, voters of all colors across America just got a big dose of what America is all about through the well-lived life of George Herbert Walker Bush.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.