The president inherited an economy that was already in a recession that, in the experience of most households, businesses and governments, lasted until the early months of 2003. This recession came after an unusually long expansion characterized, at its end, by a giant investment bubble that burst. It was only natural that such a downturn would require a longer-than-usual period of painful adjustment... In this country, presidents don't "preside over" economies, and they certainly don't control them. They can implement a limited range of economic policies that affect the economic cycle at the margin. And on that score, Bush deserves high marks.
The partisan shills who run the media like to toss out the occasional op-ed like this one to make it look as if they aren't what they are. Despite the constant not too subtle slams against GWB found throughout, which work as qualifiers and disclaimers to feed the biases of their usual readers (akin to the disclaimer PBS' "Frontline" used years ago when it covered the Sandinista atrocities in Nicaragua), it's a pretty fair piece -- directed though toward John Kerry's campaign, not toward general readers and voters. "Beat Bush, just don't do it this way," is the theme.
Obviously, if NAFTA is a threat, let's look to see which president pushed it through Congress -- oops, can't do that. And what about GWB's opposition to and alleged withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol?
Environmental Fast-fact Source
Posted on August 28, 2002
Matt Richardson draws attention to Ten Second Response, a reference site maintained by the National Center for Public Policy Research, providing concise answers and facts to the most commonly encountered questions and misconceptions regarding environmental issues...Ten Second Response
National Center for Public Policy Research
Issue: George W. Bush killed the Kyoto Protocol.
Response 1: President Bush did not kill the Kyoto Protocol. It was dead when he took office. Senate Res. 98, approved 95-0 on July 25, 1997, states that the Senate will not ratify any climate treaty that would harm the U.S. economy or fails to require developing nations to reduce emissions. Kyoto fails both tests. The President simply recognized these facts.
Response 2: President Clinton signed appropriations bills in 1999, 2000 and 2001 prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency from using any funds to "issue rules, regulations, decrees of orders for the purpose of implementation, or in preparation for implementation, of the Kyoto Protocol" until the Protocol is ratified by the Senate.
A couple of election prediction pages, which are kept updated, are
Federal Review and Dales' Electoral College Breakdown 2004George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent