American politics and journalism is now broken beyond reasonable repair.
Posted on 01/02/2013 7:10:28 AM PST by SeekAndFind
BOTH Bush “Presidencies” can be summerized by the phrase “Missed and/or Squandered Opportunities”, sad but true.
GWB is a saint compared to what we’re stuck with now.
Roberts? Impressive?
Have to disagree. Bush laid the groundwork for what we have now. The Bush family has done so much to destroy the Republican Party and the conservative movement, that I begin to think they have been sent from the Democrats for that purpose.
Thank you VDH!
As he points out, however, the things that Bush was criticized for are completely ignored in the case of Obama. Can you imagine what would have happened if Bush had made a joke about siccing drones on his daughters' suitors?
Also, even the very highly manipulated statistics are now being ignored. There is no logical reason for the press to ignore the fact that unemployment has been higher every month of Obama's terms than it was in any one month under Bush. But the press doesn't care, because it's all about covering Obama's posterior.
I think Bush's biggest failure was in not confronting the media and confronting his critics; he always thought it was more gentlemanly and contributed more to domestic harmony to just ignore it. But the problem is that so many unanswered challenges left the impression of guilt in the minds of the masses, and it was very easy for the Dems and the press to go on to demonize him (even here on FR, I have seen people refer to Bush as practically a horned monster).
The issues that hurt Bush with the mainstream are not those that hurt him with conservatives. While the mainstream certainly has a voice, it is when a person loses the protection afforded by one’s supporters that true vulnerability peaks. The following is my prioritized list of Bush’s actions that crippled his standing with conservatives.
1. The amnesty plan
2. spending
3. new drug benefit
4. refusal to defend wartime record
5. scooter libby sacrifice
6. Dubai port authority
7. harriet miers
Democat Lite, would be the term I would use to describe them....
Bush lost the ‘House’ in 2006 because of his mismanagement of the war, and he ‘checked-out’ in 2007 with the start of the financial crisis, and gave a start to ‘Bailout Mania’ in Sep 2008 that made it ‘acceptable’ to be fiscally irresponsible amongst the ‘ruling class’ and which easily gave ‘birth’ to Obama’s election.
I disagree. I think history will treat GWB better than the public opinion polls. GWB can be compared Truman, never very popular while in office. But someone who made the really tough decisions in time of war. GWB laid the groundwork for taking out Bin-Laden. There is more....much more....It was Bill Clinton who dropped the ball on not taking terrorism seriously and letting Bin-Laden escape when he had im in our crosshairs. Bill Clinton was preoccupied with more important matters in the Oral Office with the young intern nestled beneath his desk.
All that and the piece de resistance of signing TARP legislation on his way out the door, giving Obama the big spending corporate welfare gift that keeps on giving.
This article is just another 'hero Bush' puff piece inserted as a soft trial balloon to ease Jeb into a 2016 POTUS run. FR gets a couple of these posted very day. Bushbots love their royal family. Libs aren't the only ones who get caught up in Camelot.
American politics and journalism is now broken beyond reasonable repair.
This Bush family doctrine of post presidential politeness is handing Dems the keys to the revisionist bulldozer.
On the contrary, Bush was popular for much of his tenure as the article points out.
It was only when the Democrats targeted the "worst economy since the Great Depression" (which it wasn't but both dems and conservatives believed it) that his popularity faltered.
We had both prosperity and security for most of Bush's terms.
W got a bad rap. His ratings will improve with time.
Hate to be accused of recycling one of my earlier comments, but this is the truth about GWB:
“Yes I do blame GWB. But I understand what his fault TRULY was.
He squandered the greatest opportunity since Pearl Harbor!
From his famous scene standing on top of a burned out fire truck, till his famous quote of “you are either with us or against us” he had it right. But then, like his father’s entire term, and Reagan’s second term, he committed the unpardonable sin - he began listening to and acting in accordance with the advice of “advisers”.
Soon words like “inclusiveness” and “consensus” replaced direct action. And the laser like focus that should have been there was replaced with muddled group speak. This nonsense ruined GHWB’s term in office in its entirety. It really made Reagan’s second term nowhere equal to his first. And once GWB stopped listening to his own heart and started following the advice of the nitwits around him, his presidency was lost as well.
To bring this country together, even for a few months, takes a Pearl Harbor type event. They don’t happen often. And to have been President during one and squandered the opportunity, it a failure of the highest order.”
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Transportation and Security Administration (TSA)
Patriot Act
No Child Left Behind
$44 billion to Climate Change Programs
$67 billion to Department of Energy for green Programs
Renewable Fuels Mandate
Vehicle Fuel Economy Mandate
Lighting Efficiency Mandate
Chief Justice John Roberts
Spending Spending Spending
(from georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov)
The Clintons engaged the press constantly because both of them are lawyers. But in using their time this way they neglected to run the country (which IMO is what led to 9/11).
Bush decided to use his energy to keep us safe and keep the economy moving and he did those job well. Should he have done the "engagement thing" too? Not if it meant that the other jobs would have been neglected IMO.
I should add to the list in 8th place (see post #7) — Terry Schiavo.
Whether a fiscal conservative saw that as a negative isn’t really the issue. Pro-life conservatives were totally turned off by both Bush’s washing their hands of this young woman’s life.
It would have been better for them to say to pro-lifers “I don’t believe in her parent’s argument.” than to say “my hands are tied.”
A president or governor who thinks someone’s unjustly having their life taken but doesn’t take extraordinary measures is viewed as a milquetoast or a compromiser.
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