I feel like bush put Washington above many of his constituents during his presidency. The Harriet Myers issue comes to mind
He did try to depoliticize Social Security, which was good, but the approach was politically inept and didn't account adequately for furious MSM opposition.
He also warned the public repeatedly about the dangerous games Clintonistas had been playing with Freddie and Fannie and got no respect -- again, that was a communication failure that Ronald Reagan would not have put up with nor succumbed to MSM distortion and opposition on.
Freddie and Fannie were a failure of leadership by congressional Republicans in 1999 -- led by House Speaker Denny Hastert and Sens. Trent Lott, Bill Frist, and the always-obstructive-and-unhelpful John McCain.
GWB has made it next to impossible too for a Republican revival in 2010. Look at the next round of Senate races to cost the part at least another five to seven seats, starting with that awful NH.