Why you are going to miss George Bush
Entry posted by JamesSavik
1,072 views
Yep. That's right. You are going to miss him.
Fat chance.
You will miss him. Just give it time.
I sincerely doubt it but you are welcome to try to defend King George.
Oh no- I'm not going to try to defend him. In many ways his generally incoherent style of public speaking made him one of the most ineffective presidents in living memory because he simply failed to explain his policies.
Don't you mean the worst in history?
No. I'm older than most of you and remember Jimmy Carter. I'm better versed in history than most of you too and I remember some real losers that have occupied the White House like Grant, Coolidge, Buchanan and Andrew Johnson.
I said ineffective. Not worst. Bush's problem with communication made him an easy target. He tried to speak plainly but this backfired on him terribly. His style of speaking and his propensity to verbally stumble were easily misunderstood, taken out of context and generally made the man look like an idiot. For instance- his use of with us or against us in regard to the War on Terror was a particularly bad choice of words making some friendly countries feel like they had to take sides and lead directly to poor relations with traditional allies.
Well he was an idiot.
Bush got his undergraduate degree at Yale, his law degree at UT and his MBA at Harvard. He is no idiot. Over and over his political rivals have failed to take him seriously and he defeated a string of democratic notables- Ann Richards, Al Gore and John Kerry.
OK genius. Why are we going to miss him?
First- Bush's actions were always a product of his beliefs and/or ideology. He did not fly "trial balloons" or consult focus groups and see which way the wind was blowing. He made the decision, popular or unpopular, took the heat for it and did not make excuses.
Second- For years democrats have blamed everything on Bush from bad weather to bad luck. His style of refusing to get into bare-knuckle partisan brawls and simply refusing to acknowledge charges that he considered ridiculous made it look like the man was hiding from his critics. Now we are about to have an administration which will be held accountable for nothing.
Third- What Bush has done in Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of the world is to protect America's interests. Period. If you think the economy is screwed-up now, consider carefully what would have happened if Bush had failed to answer the challenge of Al Qaeda. Had Hussien stayed in power, how long would it have taken for him to cause even more trouble in the Gulf? Of course the Chinese, Russians and French didn't like it. They were getting rich and America was getting screwed. Bush's actions in Iraq have reset the table and if we play our cards right, we'll be sitting at the head of that table if the new administration does not squander the opportunity.
But he lied...
Oh horsesh*t. By 2003 when we started Operation Kick Saddam's Ass II, Saddam had pissed off half the world and was bribing the other half. So many people wanted him dead that he never slept in the same place twice. The Kuwaiti's had a price on his head. The Iranians had a price on his head. That sort of thing happens when you start two wars of aggression and kill a million people.
Did Bush lie about weapons of mass destruction? He had people telling him everything from Saddam was rearming to Saddam was becoming a pussycat. He had to use his best judgment. Judging from Saddam's past history and the way Iraq was playing pussyfoot with inspectors- the smart money was on there being fire behind all the smoke.
OK. But he fu-bared the economy...
As a republican and a believer in free markets, Bush believed that the way to allow the economy to grow was to get out of its way and let it grow.
The problems in the economy came from governmental meddling in the lending markets which occurred in a prior administration and high level cooperate malfeasance. Could regulation have avoided these problems? Probably not and you can bet that regulations would cause more problems than it would solve.
If he was so good why does everybody hate him?
He wasn't that good. He was unapologetic plain vanilla pro American moderate republican who didn't like partisan bickering and put his foot in his mouth at the worst possible moment.
Not everyone hates him.
OK: if he was so great, why did things seem to suck while he was in office?
Bush's presidency was very much a product of the times. No President has ever had to cope with the complexity of the world situation that George W. Bush stepped into when he was sworn in Feb. 2001.
Twenty years after, the world is a very chaotic place in the wake of the Cold War. Allies and alliances are changing out of national and economic interests, the rise of the European Union, China and even India's emergence as a regional power, petro-politics, terrorism, rouge states like Iraq, Iran, North Korea: you have to consider it a success to keep the whole thing from exploding- or at least controlling most of the explosions that did occur.
The majority of Bush's Presidency is mired in the Middle East because the problems festering there had been ignored for far too long.
You can count on chaos because that's the world that we live in.
What do you mean we're going to miss him?
For years it has been something of a national excuse to blame Bush for whatever goes wrong. Now- for better or worse, the Presidency, house and the senate are solidly in the hands of the democrats. The buck stops there. It is in their hands- now lets see them take responsibility for it and defend the national interests of the country without surrender.
Furthermore- since we can no longer blame Bush and the media won't allow you to blame Obama, you'll just have to blame yourself for whatever goes wrong in your life.
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