And unlike the arrogant pos who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, George W. Bush was a President for all Americans not certain selected few selected ones like 0bama is
Posted on 09/16/2010 5:06:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
Former President George W. Bush left office with the lowest approval ratings since Richard Nixon. In reaction, for nearly two years President Barack Obama won easy applause by prefacing almost every speech on his economic policies with a "Bush did it" put-down.
But suddenly Bush seems OK. Last week, the president did the unthinkable: He praised Bush for his past efforts to reach out to Muslims. Vice President Joe Biden went further and blurted out, "Mr. Bush deserves a lot of credit." Biden topped that off with, "Mr. President, thank you."
Even liberal pundits have now called on Bush to help Obama diffuse rising tensions over the so-called Ground Zero mosque and Arizona's illegal immigration law.
What's going on?
For one thing, recent polls show an astounding rebound in the former president's favorability -- to the extent that in the bellwether state of Ohio, voters would rather still have Bush as president than Obama by a 50-42 margin. Nationwide, Obama's approval ratings continue to sink to near 40 percent -- a nadir that took years for Bush to reach. It has become better politics to praise rather than to bury Bush.
Iraq seems on the road to success, with a growing economy and a stabilizing government. Don't take my word on that; ask Vice President Biden. He recently claimed that the way Iraq is going, it could become one of the Obama administration's "greatest achievements." Obama himself seconded that when the former war critic called the American effort in Iraq "a remarkable chapter" in the history of the two countries.
Then there are the growing comparisons with Bush's supposed past transgressions. Compared to Obama, they're starting to look like traffic tickets now. Take the economy and the war on terror. Americans were angry at the Bush-era deficits. But they look small after Obama trumped them in less than two years.
For six years of the Bush administration, Americans enjoyed a strong economy. So far, there hasn't been a similar month under Obama. Bush had a one-time Wall Street meltdown, but Obama's permanent big-government medicine for it seems far worse than the original disease.
If Hurricane Katrina showed government ineptness, so did the recent BP oil spill. Maybe such problems in the Gulf were neither Bush nor Obama's fault alone, but are better attributed to the inept federal bureaucracy itself -- or to freak weather and human laxity.
On the war on terror, Obama has dropped all the old campaign venom. Bush's Guantanamo Bay detention facility, renditions, tribunals, intercepts, wiretaps, predator drone attacks, and policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are no longer dubbed a shredding of the Constitution. All are now seen as national security tools that must be kept, if not expanded, under Obama.
In comparison to Obama and his gaffes, Bush no longer seems the singular clod whom his opponents endlessly ridiculed. The supposedly mellifluent Obama relies on the teleprompter as if it were his umbilical cord. His occasional word mangling (he pronounced "corpsman" as "corpse-man") and weird outbursts (he recently complained that opponents "talk about me like a dog") remind us that the pressures of the presidency can make a leader sometimes seem silly.
Bush now seems cool because he has played it cool. The more Obama and Biden have trashed him, the more silent and thus magnanimous he appears. Bush's post-presidency is not like that of Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton -- both have criticized their successors and hit the campaign trail -- but similar to that of his father, who worked with, rather than harped about, Bill Clinton. That graciousness not only has helped George W. Bush in the polls, but it finally seems to be mellowing out Obama as well.
Criticism of Bush got out of hand the last few years of his term. Writing novels or making documentaries about killing the president, or libeling him as a Nazi, is not the sort of politics that we want continued during the Obama years. So it makes sense before the general election to halt the endless blame-gaming, before what goes around comes around.
The frenzy of Bush hatred and Obama worship that crested in the summer of 2008 is over. We now better remember the Bush at Ground Zero with a megaphone and his arm around a fireman than the Texan who pronounced "nuclear" as "nucular." Meanwhile, hope-and-change now seems to offer little hope and less change.
America woke up from its 2008 trance and is concluding that Bush was never as bad, and Obama never as good, as advertised.
Thanks, a Bush liberal on this thread just called me a “friggin idiot”. I must admit that is pretty tame compared to some Bush-bot responses I have got the past two years.
And unlike the arrogant pos who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, George W. Bush was a President for all Americans not certain selected few selected ones like 0bama is
So, what was he suppose to do?? Protect Jobs?? A job is not a right nor guaranteed.. Unless you work for the Government..
In January 1995, the Republicans took control of the House and Senate. Unemployment was at approximately 6.25%. The Dow Jones Industrial Index was at approximately 3,800.
The Republicans controlled both houses of Congress until the end of 2000. During the period from January 1995 to December 2000, unemployment dropped from 6.25% to approximately 3.75%. During the same period, the Dow rose from 3,800 to over 10,600.
From January 2001 until the end of 2002, the Democrats either controlled the Senate or it was split 50/50 between the parties. During this period, unemployment climbed from 3.75% to approximately 6.5%. During the same period, the Dow dropped from 10,600 to 8,300.
From January 2003 until the end of 2006, the Republicans again controlled both houses of Congress. During this period, unemployment dropped from 6.5% to just over 4%. During the same period, the Dow rose from 8,300 to 12,300.
In November 2006, the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. In the same month, unemployment was at 4.3% and the DOW was over 12,500. Since then, the Democrats have continuously held control of Congress. Unemployment has continuously climbed and the Dow plummeted.
Imagine what the MSM would say if there were such a perfect correlation between CO2 and global temperatures?
Republicans need to constantly remind voters that this year is a Congressional election not a Presidential election. The Democrats have controlled Congress since 2006. By every objective measure, the economy is far worse off now that it was when the Democrats took control.
The Democrats own this recession. If everything that has happened since 2006 is George Bush's fault, then what the hell have the Democrats been doing in Congress for the past four years and why should we allow them to continue doing it?
No problem-I tend to speed read, too. :)
I think the best way to deal with Bushbots is to simply ignore them.
We have to remember that Bush, despite his many flaws, was a patriot who loved America. Its really not his fault his judgement was so defective. It was mistake to nominate any Bush in the first place, but in 2000 our options were limited. He tried his best but wasn’t up to it.
Lets hope the lesson was learned and “Jeb” doesn’t run for higher office.
I think the Bushes are history, unlike the Kennedys, another Klan which keeps on giving no matter how many of them eliminate themselves through their own stupidity, or the Clintons, who are like something that gets stuck on the bottom of your shoe if you’re carelss in dog or horse country. The Kennedys are such a serious problem because they are so prolific and so leftist. Even rodents couldn’t outbreed them.
I voted for Bush because I believed he was a decent man with
American values and a solid religious belief system.
I voted for Bush because he wasn’t a Democrat and somehow they managed to get him to stop smirking.
Which he was and still is
That sounds like a campaign theme to me. Great questions!
I do my best to not bring him up or think about him except when these coolaid re-write history articles are posted. Heck, if we buy this crap then we should nominate someone like GWB 2012. Polls are showing voters are leaning Republican specifically because they think Republicans will have different policies than Bush did.
Right on! Pelosi, Reid, 0b0z0 took over Congress in 2007 and started to destroy our economy to push their left wing wet dreams and to redistribute our incomes/savings to pay for their illegals and perpetual welfare scum, who voted them into power.
“During the six years Bush had a republican Congress, unemployment was near historic lows and the economy was strong. During the nearly two years Obama has had a democrat Congress, unemployment is high and the economy is sick.
There is some symmetry there, and people are starting to recognize it.”
Compassionate Conservatism, a New Tone in Washington, and Amnesty. Now his henchman, Karl Rove is all apoplectic that it’s all coming under attack by the American people.
Maybe that's because he took over a nearly balanced budget as your graphic indicates.
Or maybe it (and the balanced budget) was because he had a Republican Congress for three quarters of his term.
Absolutely not
RE :”Absolutely not”
How about Sarah Palin as president?
Didn't W have the same?
I’d take her over Carter, or his 1/2 black, 1/2 baked protege in a NY minute, if that’s what you’re asking.
Speaking of Sarah Palin (nice try at changing the subject), you are my Exhibit 1 (similar to how pissant identifies what he considers Sarah ‘cultists’ here) as a poster who is nothing more than a knee-jerk, sycophant, cultist who has exposed themselves as an unthinking anti-BushBot. IMHO, you damage the credibility of the “purist conservative” contingent at FR, similar to the way that another poster (seohyoung something or other) harmed the case for those Sarah Palin supporters here. You’re no better and in fact are worse imho.
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