“The Dems had the votes to override any veto Bush tried.”
The last few years of the Clinton Administration saw budget surpluses. Bush never ran a surplus. For six years of the Bush administration there was no veto proof Dem majority, deficits were running at increasingly high rates and Bush’s veto pen was in his pocket. Had he been responsible and sustained the government surpluses by using his veto to reign in spending during his first six years he would have had the credibility with the American people to use the veto effectively with dem majorities.
The reason the Dems won control of both houses in 2006 was Bush’s poor leadership on many fronts. His failure to reign in spending from the beginning was one of many leadership failures.
Even if you ignore all of the above, you imply that Bush didn’t use his veto the last two years because the Dems had a veto proof majority. The test of a real leader is what he or she does when the odds against him or her are high. The individual who does nothing is not a leader.
We are seeing this play out in Washington today. Cruz is fighting almost the entire Washington establishment and having some success rallying the American people against the power of the federal government, the press, the Presiden’s bully pulpit, the leadership of his own party and the Dems. Cruz displays the courage in fighting the political opposition Bush never displayed.
Bush did set the stage for Obama and the reckless spending of today. He made many bad decisions, he failed to fight his political opponents, and his poor performance resulted in both the Democrat Congessional victories in 2006 and the election of Obama in 2008. Had he been an effective leader and fighter, this nation would likely be in a different and better place.
In short, Bush took Rove’s advise.