...the standard of living for the average American family did not increase during the 8 years of Bush and the budget deficit doubled in his 8 years. Plus his lack of enforcement of immigration laws allowed millions of illegals into the country increasing the cost of government social services. He also added huge government costs in the form of “no child left behind”, Medicare prescription drugs, and two foreign wars with no end in sight. His Treasury Department, working with the Federal Reserve, pursued a “weak dollar” low interest rate strategy contributing greatly to the housing bubble and dramatically lowering the return on savings of millions of middle class retirees. Furthermore he perpetuated the one sided “free trade” policies of his father and Clinton which have resulted in the deindustrialization of this country and the destruction of millions of middle class jobs. As a conservative the biggest issue I have with Bush was him abdicating his responsibility during the September 2008 financial crisis resulting in Paulson and Bernanke allowing Wall Street to loot the Treasury and then acquiescing in passing TARP so the new Democrat administration would have a multibillion dollar slush fund to begin its reign over the American people.
From my perspective Bush was a mediocre to poor President. He failed to exercise any budget discipline. After 9/11 he got us into two wars with constantly changing objectives and no defined “victory”. He allowed his opponents to control the agenda by not fighting back. After Katrina he seemed to totally give up. George Bush was not up to the job because he had no clear vision for America and no understanding that the biggest threat to personal freedom was limiting the power and size of the federal government. Bush, aided the growth of government and failed to use his veto power to put a brake on the excesses of Congress. He may have loved his country but his administration perpetuated the growth of big government and his political ineptness established the conditions that resulted in the election of Obama and the super-Democrat majority in Congress which gave us accelerated runaway spending and Obamacare.
Bush may have been a “nice guy” but calling oneself a conservative does not make one a conservative. Bush was a believer in big government and a big spender. 1/3 of our current $14 billion national debt is attributable to his 8 years. Obama may be far worse but Bush was the biggest spender by far of all presidents up to Obama. Had he sustained the balanced budget he inherited, our economic mess would not be as bad as it is today. In fact, had he sustained the balanced budget the Republicans could have turned Obama/Pelosi/Reid’s profligate spending into a major and powerful political issue.
You win the award for most insightful post of the day.RABS
I would go one further. One of the best posts I have ever read at Free Republic.
A tip o the hat to you “Soul of the South!!
.....”low interest rate strategy contributing greatly to the housing bubble ....”
ahhhh yes....who can forget the “Ownership Society” plan for giving mortgages to folks with Section 8 housing vouchers and no jobs. WHAT was he thinking????