Posted on 01/04/2009 10:36:57 AM PST by SmithL
Washington -- Love him or hate him, George W. Bush leaves office among the most consequential presidents in modern history. Like his home state of Texas, his presidency was big.
He sought "to end tyranny in the world." He began two wars. He cut taxes three times, tried to privatize Social Security, and added the biggest expansion of Medicare since it was created under Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. He took on AIDS in Africa and redrew the federal role in education. He named two relatively young conservatives to the Supreme Court. He declared by himself a "global war on terror" and asserted unprecedented executive powers to fight it.
As bold and brash as his father was cautious, W. rolled the dice at history. And history rolled them back.
Bush entered office only after a historic contested election was decided by the Supreme Court. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks came less than a year into his presidency; Hurricane Katrina ripped through its middle. And just as he prepared to head home to Texas, a financial panic struck on a scale not seen since 1929. His last major act was to loan billions to General Motors and Chrysler to avoid their collapse on his watch.
Historians will suspend immediate judgment. All modern presidents leave office sullied, yet many, like Harry Truman, Bill Clinton and even Jimmy Carter, have had their reputations restored with time. But from the vista of now, the nation's 43rd president risks joining the likes of Franklin Pierce, his own distant relative, as among the nation's worst presidents, harshly judged in their day and never bathed in the warm afterglow of hindsight.
Bush leaves to his successor two unfinished wars, Osama bin Laden living in an unstable Pakistan, a U.S. reputation soiled by Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo...torture,
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Oh....oh, dude....I could tell you right now.......
“But from the vista of now, the nation’s 43rd president risks joining the likes of Franklin Pierce, his own distant relative, as among the nation’s worst presidents, harshly judged in their day and never bathed in the warm afterglow of hindsight.”
So much for suspending judgment.
I think George W Bush was a fine war-time President and that History will judge him kindly. It won’t take more than a couple of years of Obama for this to happen.
All modern presidents leave office sullied, yet many, like Harry Truman, Bill Clinton and even Jimmy Carter, have had their reputations restored with time.
Looks like we're rewriting history today at the SF Comical.
Am I seeing things or did the article say that 43 tried to privatize social security? hmm. Quite a fighter we had there.
“even Jimmy Carter, have had their reputations restored with time”...
nope
“Bill Clinton and even Jimmy Carter, have had their reputations restored with time”...
that one requires a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’
He is going to be remembered more like Truman, who left office with an actual lower approval rating, but is remembered much better than his contemporary enemies wish.
""I gave it my best," he recently told a guest at the White House."
Yes, you did, sir! You never wavered ... you never relented .. you kept us safe, against all odds, and in the face of the most unrelenting and vicious partisan and personal attacks from your own countrymen. God bless you.
Maybe my great grand children will get around to caring. If they are around they may be thanking GW Bush for the chance to freely decide what they think of him.
Plusses:
Minuses:
The minuses outweigh the plusses. What a disaster.
WOT = B
Domestic = D-
Odd. I never realized Clinton and Carter had their reputations restored with time. Wishful thinking by the lib media, I guess.
This post is being sent from a nation that went from a brutal dictatorship where people lived in constant fear to a free and sovereign democracy, thanks to President Bush’s refusal to waver, falter or fail.
Oh, yeah, I’ll add “preventing another, and worse, 9-11” in the plusses list. That isn’t minor, but it still is outweighed by what he’s done the past few months.
I know .. and thank you for reminding all that
you witness the improvements liberty brings ..
every single blessed day of your life in the
sandbox! I hope you write a book ... seriously.
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