Posted on 05/31/2012 7:38:41 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
John Bolton, Mr Bush's ambassador to the United Nations, said it would not be helpful for the Republicans to more vigorously defend the former president's record, which Democrats have sharply criticised.
Mr Bolton urged Mitt Romney, the party's nominee to face Mr Obama in November, to focus on the future and resist arguing over whether their last president left behind "a big mess or a little mess".
His remarks came as Mr Bush prepared to return to the White House for only the second time since leaving office in January 2009, for the unveiling of his official portrait.
"I think people would agree with Obama that he was left with a mess," Mr Bolton told The Daily Telegraph.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Can Romney blame Bush too?
You see, in my opinion, the President is CEO of the USA. We “hired” a leader, someone who says “I’m in control, I am in charge” and what we got is a whiner. Nothing is his fault, his failed policies are blamed on someone else. If it’s the people - they are racist. If it’s the tanking economy - it’s Bush.
Nevermind that the DEMS have been in charge of Congress before he got in, and had such a deadlock that the Republicans were unable to even Filibuster in opposition.
Remember when Obama told us that the RNC put is in the ditch, and he didn’t want to hear from them as the DNC was pushing the bus out of the ditch?
No mention that reckless spending, forcing banks to give loans to people unfit to get a home loan, no mention of increased dependance upon foreign oil - all made manifest by the DEMS controlling Congress.
Yet, for reasons no one really understands - everything is Bush’s fault. Every campaign promise that Obama made, and has failed to keep - is Bush’s fault.
Bush’s faults ceased to exist the day Obama was sworn into office.
IIRC, during Bush's presidency there were three efforts by Republicans in Congress to deal with the worst aspects of the Community Reinvestment Act. All of these efforts were defeated by the Democrats, probably with some assistance from the RINO contingent.
BS. The last two years of GWB term was controlled with a Democratic Senate and House, where all the crap starts. Bush had a continuing war to work with and I feel he just got tired of fighting with these Democrat communists and it was understandable to just give up. How much can a human take? So it was not Bush but the communists running this Country, LIKE JUST NOW! What the hell is the matter with these so called experts?
Perhaps we shouldn’t be arguing over which PRESIDENT(s) have left us with huge or small messes, but with which CONGRESS(es) have left us with huge or small messes. The Democrats ran both Houses for W’s last two years and in those two years created the horrible economy that they insisted existed for the first 6 years of W’s Presidency. The Democrats resisted needed reforms in those two years and many economic metric downslides can be directly traced back to the Speakerships of Pelosi and Reid.
I agree.
The nation hired a new manager who was asked to fix the mess (regardless of blame).
After three years, we see no progress towards a recovery.
We will change the manager again.
Remember, that the Democrats had both Houses the last two years of the Bush presidency
A guy made a video and a ton of voters thought the GOP were running everything and no clue that Democrats had both Houses
There are degrees of “messes”. The country was in far better shape during Bush’s 8 yrs than the last four. So I don’t accept the premise that bush left a mess. The bank loan debacle was caused by liberals forcing banks to loan to people who couldn’t afford the loans. That wasn’t caused by Bush it was caused by people like Barney Frank.
Bush had a lot of faults but they pale in comparison to obama’s. That is the message they should convey.
Every Great Evil of the Obama Administration has had its roots in Bush’s bungling - from the “Patriot” Act, the “Transportation Security Agency”, “Islam is a peaceful religion”, to foregn policy blunders, failure to control Islam in the west, TARP and massive government spending.
America has had a plague of BAD Presidents - Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama - the WORST and HOPEFULLY last of the series.
Bolton is a brilliant man and is right on target.
I can argue with that in many ways, but his second term was certainly a disaster. Failed presidents don’t typically win 2 terms. Carter is undoubtedly a failed president. I would call Bush 41 a bigger failure in many ways. one termer, failing to communicate to the people the foreign success and a turnaround to a growing economy.
With 43, we kept congressional majorities and grew it significantly in 2004 because the Republicans did quite well with the public 2001-2004. There were certainly many things I can be critical of in the first time, but it was overall a series of strong policy wins, and an historic response to 9/11 and re-positioning of our foreign affairs to address a new enemy.
The two things Bush and team were terrible with was communication and leadership on spending restraint. Had they done those two things, it would have been an historically strong presidency. Instead they lost control politically in year 5, and completely lost any narrative. The fact is, when Nancy Pelosi took the gavel in 1/07, every economic number was quite good. It wasn’t until the effects of a Democratic liberal majority happened that there was any downturn.
Yeah, that 6% real unemployment was soooooo horrible under Bush.
Its much better at the 18%+ level that Obama gave us.
JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford
Two camps on that. Everything is Bush’s fault. And NOTHING is Bush’s fault.
Bush had 8 years and didn’t get the job done and we will pay dearly for his failure.
As far as I can tell, Obama has increased the problem on all accounts.
The President ALWAYS has the RIGHT and the RESPONSIBILITY to use a VETO pen and Bush II threatened to do just that if the English as an Official Language bill was passed.
Let’s not forget the real mess, both political and filthy, CLINTON left for Bush.
Ouch!!!
We have had a lot of really BAD Presidents, haven’t we?
The fact that America did so well in the past DESPITE its idiot leadership is the best argument for the least involvement by government in the private and business lives of its citizens.
The prescription drug program, an unfund liability of $7.2 trillion, was one of Bush's biggest mistakes. Karl Rove was the "mastermind" by this as a way to preempt the Dems on their traditional issues. And same holds true with his No Child Left Behind, another expansion of federal power and funding.
However you are correct on the domestic spending programs.
***The housing and financial mess happened under Bush,***
Actually, if you go back to the last year of the Clinton presidency, you will see the stock market going up-up-up (due to the Reagan-Bush policies)! Then in March or April it stalled then went into free fall and Clinton did nothing to stop it.
On 9-11 the Twin Towers were destroyed and the stock market went into another rough ride. It has been up-down since.
The housing and financial mess started under CARTER the Incompetent with the Community Reinvestment Act. Let’s not forget the 21% interest rates, the foreclosures of homes and businesses, and the failure of banks and credit unions at that time.
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