Posted on 04/15/2013 10:49:04 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
George W Bush: was he really that bad?
More than four years after George W Bush left the White House, his record is being reassessed and throws up similarities with Barack Obama, writes Alex Spillius
By Alex Spillius
1:10PM BST 15 Apr 2013
It is George W Bush’s particular achievement to be disliked by both sides in American politics.
Democrats of course excoriate the damage done to the budget by waging two wars while cutting taxes, his conduct after Hurricane Katrina and his shoot from the hip style, not to mention that fact that he presided over the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.
His own Republican party utterly rejected him during the 2012 campaign. Tea Party types saw him as a big-spender guilty of extending federal government, while few who once stood with him were prepared to defend his military achievements.
But presidents tend to look better, or at least different, from a distance, and with the opening of his presidential centre in Texas, there are suggestions that Bush the younger may be more fondly remembered than was thought possible when he left the White House in January 2009 as the most unpopular president in living memory.
He was certainly more socially liberal than his critics give him credit for. No Child Left Behind, whatever its faults and funding, was a centralised attempt to raise educational standards across the board.
A new prescription drug benefit scheme may have been expensive (though Bush himself argues its cost has been exaggerated) but its aim was to make medicines more affordable for the elderly.
Bush failed in his most ambitious social reform of immigration law, but he was defeated primarily by the Right of his party, not the Democrats.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Totally Bush's fault. Never knew how to play hardball. Should have told some RINOs especially those 2 from Maine & told them of definite base closures, etc. if they voted against him. None had consequences against them.
It's all expected & the next president will be as bad if not worse. Remember you do not select the 2 candidates - they are made for you by the elites who do not have my convictions.
That analysis is definitely not held by any of the Bushes; they are all clinton admirers.
Then Carter must be the best president ever because he begat Reagan?
Not as bad as Obama......that about sums up W.
That’s like asking someone with terminal cancer whether their nasty cold four years earlier was really that bad. Bush had serious problems, especially reckless spending and his role in TARP, but Obama is orders of magnitude worse.
The greatest failing I perceived for George W. is that as someone who loved his country and strove to act honorably, he expected others to do likewise. I think Reagan had the same problem, though leftists didn't exploit it quite so badly. The issue isn't simply one's position along a political axis. One cannot defeat dishonorable people if one is unwilling to impugn their honor.
To be sure, especially in a country where the media are controlled by evil and dishonorable people, it can be difficult to challenge people's honor without the challenge becoming a stain upon oneself, but for this country to have any hope conservatives must find leaders who are willing and able to do so. For example, on the "universal background checks" issue, conservatives should ask if there's any reason they should believe such checks would only be used to deny the rights of people who have actually been convicted of serious crimes or found to be criminally insane through due process of law, and would never be applied illegitimately in ex-post-facto fashion in explicit violation of the Constitution. Of course, no reasonable person should trust that background checks would not be so abused, given that those who are pushing for background checks have actively pushed to have the "forbidden" list include various classes of people who have never been convicted--or even accused--of any crime that would forfeit their rights. If, however, the proponents of the check are allowed to portray themselves as honorable people, they can spin any opposition to their good-natured intentions as promoting death and destruction.
... and still, there is a HUGE spread.
Lol..that’s true! Why am I laughing?
I bet Romney got the idea from Bush. Didn’t Bush hold up his dog by the ears too!
It now appears that GWB will go down in history as the last “Republican” president; unless GPB can change things around c. 2028.
I still muse about that ill informed muslim in chief trying to publicly give his brethren credit for their advancements and contributions to civilization.... such as algebra.
What a jackwagon! The Roman engineers had a demand for the higher level maths and thus developed them. Subsequently, the muslims captured some of their studies and laid claim to Algebra. Show me the evidence in the Islamic world where they used the maths....the evidence is scattered where ever the Romans set foot! The ruins are still there today! But nooooo, according to the good muslim Obama, Algebra was created by the muslims....
AND America went on to believe THAT crap.
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