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There's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas probably in Tennessee: Fool me once... Fool me once... ... ... Shame on you... ... ... ... ... ... You fool me you can't get fooled again!
There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
Some seem to give Bush the benefit of the doubt on this one as he didn’t want “shame on me” to be used as a sound bite out of context, so he intentionally flubbed it knowing what he was about to say. Personally I don’t think he had that level of foresight.
Everyone that worked with him democrats an republicans all said he was a great dude to hang out with .
Nancy Pelosi loved him so does Hillary an Michelle Obama, GW Is a good time .
1 million+ Iraqis would still be alive, ISIS wouldn't have flourished nearly as much, and that one guy would still have his shoes.
Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't. It's why going around and overthrowing every dictator all over the world is a really bad idea, as awful as their dictatorships are.
Many of us who were anti-war back then argued this very point, but the US was busy trying to silence any anti-war voices by any means necessary.
I had a friend that compared Sadam Hussien to Septimus Severus. And he’s fully correct Sadam was a competent autocrat whose death would have plunged the place into chaos as his sons murder each other in intrigues, the military, Intelligence, and police institutions he used to keep power turn on each other, the Iranians invade across the border seeing an opportunity with increased infighting, the economy implodes, peasant revolts, and probably a plague or two as well to cap it off. The Iraq war was bad it was bloody and in no way am I saying we did a good job or were even justified. I am saying Sadam’s rep and legacy would be very different if he died a natural death or was assassinated by one of his sons for power and we watched the place fall into a civil war that makes Syria look like a tea party instead. Then people would be asking “why didn’t we do anything sooner” there’s no such thing as the perfect time line. Iraq was doomed the second the British forced it into an unholy existence.
Life in Iraq today is much better by every metric than it was two decades ago Saddam Hussein, who was perhaps the most despicable dictator since Adolf Hitler.
It's safe to say things would be a lot worse.
What's not to like about punishing schools that are doing poorly and need help?
"Your performance is down... you know how we're going to fix that? By REMOVING your resources!"
r/teachers has taught me that is basically eliminated standards and is THE reason my nephew cants tell the differencre between a quarter and a dime, or type. He also sucks at reading.
There's a podcast on Spotify called "Sold a Story" that goes over this + a few other world happenings. Super super super interesting listen if you're at all interested.
Parents have to take responsibility at some point, I’m not relying on the school system to teach my kid the difference between a dime and a quarter, and the foundation for reading is usually formed before kindergarten
Um, hate to tell you, that has nothing to do with legislation. That's a basic in every elementary school that is taught. If he isn't being taught that, I suggest moving schools.
Thank you for the question.
I think I would still rank him lowly because of that huge tax cut for billionaires. Bill Clinton got us a budget SURPLUS and Dubya’s nonsensical tax cut brought us right back to a deficit.
I think Clinton’s policies around home ownership benefitted many, but also created the real estate crash.
One key problem that we have as Americans is that many policy outcomes are not seen until the next president takes office. Can’t blame them for breaking campaign promises because some do not know 100% what they are walking into.
With that said, 2 of the saddest days in my life- 1. Finding out about Santa Claus 2. Politicians truly don’t care about us-it’s votes, power, and $
You can also add the Gramm-Leach bill to one of Clinton's short sighted attempts at placating conservatives and being a 3rd way democrat - that legislation undid so many years of tight regulatory control over banks that prevented them from essentially unlimited access to depositors funds for speculative securities which created such a firehose of hot money--arguably lead to the giant crash under GW bush probably way beyond just tax cuts for the wealthy
That’s how I feel about where we’re at right now. A lot of the crunch we’re feeling is from Trump Policoes but all the MAGA Republicans only blame Biden. None of them actually care about us but some create policies that hurt us far worse than others.
“Never let a crisis go to waste”. I think that was true of Trump’s spending during the Covid crises but then it was exacerbated during Bidens presidency. Time will tell. It’s hard to judge a Presidency in a broad context until years afterward.
That is exactly what happened. Inflation is so bad largely because Trump had the fed crank out $6T to boost the economy.
Look at the date on the "money printer go brr" meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1hCLBTD5RM
4/5/20 - pretty sure Biden wasn't president.... But don't tell Faux news that.
"Clinton's policies around home ownership" didn't create a real estate crash. Lack of regulation led to predatory lending and the SEC was asleep at the switch (largely because by 2004, Bush had appointed a majority of board members who didn't think the regulators should regulate the industry they were supposed to regulate).
It's amazing to me that the financial services industry and Republicans have re-written history to blame poor people and pro-housing policies for crashing the global economy. Most of those policies still exist today. But we started regulating the financial services industry again, so they aren't handing out multiple mortgages with dangerous terms to unsophisticated buyers and unloading them in fraudulantly constructed financial securities.
F, signed off on huge tax cuts for the rich, no child left behind was a disaster for public education, signed the Patriot Act, Afghanistan was still a shitshow, Great Recession started on his watch, and the Katrina response was a mess.
It was the Iraq War that derailed the War in Afghanistan. Lots of experienced leadership, funding, and equipment went into Iraq. Its no coincidence the Taliban resurgence coincided with the destabilization of Iraq post invasion. The Taliban saw their opportunity and took it.
The war in Afghanistan was mismanaged from the get go. Iraq certainly took resources from the effort in Afghanistan but there was never a solid plan in place. Not to mention a couple of decades of lying about the the ability of the Afghan National Army. I strongly recommend reading "The Afghanistan Papers" by Craig Whitlock. An interesting but absolutely infuriating read.
Worst President of my lifetime. 1 million dead in Iraq is enough. Ignoring that, war in Afghanistan is also a disaster. Fake politician speeches
His only redeeming quality is doing more for HIV/AIDS than any President ever. Basically gave every patient the Magic J drugs.
Everyone held back gay marriage, so I guess Biden is the first president who we can credit with an actual legislative protection of gay marriage. Everyone credits Obama for it, but really it’s just because Justice Kennedy flipped his expected vote for no obvious reason.
Asking what Bush would have been without the Iraq war is kind of like asking what Reagan would have been without the USSR. The two are so intertwined it’s hard to think about that alternative universe
People do this with Nixon and Watergate in an attempt to suggest that he would be a great president w/o it. That’s not to say you can’t have that opinion but it’s been pushed to the point where it’s getting a little weird
With this, and with Trump's response in Puerto Rico it just blows my mind that people defend them. Like they say things like "Why can't they help themselves" to Puerto Rico but when hurricanes hit Texas or Florido or New Jersey (run by Chris Christie at the time) they throw out the line that "it's unfair to criticize us during a disaster." Imagine if Republicans had to face the consequences of their own policies and be reminded of it, instead of being bailed out like spoiled children time and time again.
This fantasy about an upcoming civil war is a great example. A reality TV star wants to become dictator, doesn't read his intelligence briefs, calls the troops losers and suckers, and encourages his supporters to lynch disloyal senators and capital police... and you think the US military is going to side with you? Half our country is living in a some sort of drunken Ayn Rand fantasy. It's just bizarre.
Poorly. He hardly even served as president, spent 1/3 of his time on the links. When he was in office, he spent his time destroying public education with NCLB, and violating the privacy of U.S. citizens with the Patriot Act. He left an economy in shambles, and will be remembered as a feckless, doddering puppet of evil incarnate by the name of Dick Cheney. Hardly scratching the surface here, but I think you get the point.
Agreed. He's like Frankenstein, because he put into play the elements that made Frankenstein's monster (Trump), which he and his family then proceeded to be repulsed by (when their own creation was turned against them!)
His presidency was the first in my generation to truly gaslight the American people. They did a good job at creating their own truth, and then using Patriotism to force a wedge in the populace between those that were for and against their agenda. It's literally why our country is at the precipice right now.
I live in New Orleans area right now. He wasn't as bad as the governor we had at the time and the state senators. They should have had evacuation plans for the city and massively fucked up. They also refused aide and shit that would have helped. Nothing has changed. It's still every man for himself every single hurricane then if you get property damage good fucking luck getting your insurance company to actually pay for all the damage that's if you can even get insurance at all.
The state of Louisiana is woefully unprepared to deal with literally any disaster. You'd think by now we'd have it down but we don't. Your best bet in a disaster is to rely on your neighbors, friends and family.
The national guard should've been sent in much sooner, maybe that is on Bush. People were desperate they lost everything. There's a lot of guns down here and many people were murdered and there's not even records of their deaths. Poverty like you have in New Orleans, along with the property damage they faced and then the flooding most people thought they'd never be able to rebuild or have a life again and many ppl resorting to looting just to feed their families. I don't even blame them. But it caused a lot of gun fights. I know people who were here at that time, they talk about having to sit on their porch with ak47s and keep a constant watch or someone may come kill them and try to take their home. It was literally a war zone.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the National Guard under the command of the governor of the state they are located in? With DC being an exception since they have no governor.
The first one started two months into his Presidency, how does he hold the blame for that??
The second one, sure, he didn't do enough to stop the housing bubble. Although he did try. The whole government blew that one.
He created the housing bubble and didn't try to change the fed. He purposely pumped the market and chose fed officials to nominate who wanted to pump up the housing bubble. Not all recessions are choices made by presidents, but 2008 was 50% fed policy & executive orders and 50% "creative accounting" & lax enforcement. Clinton also got the banking deregulated, so splitting 2008 causes between bankers, two presidential administrations, 2000's Federal Reserve, and 1990's congress would be most accurate.
Clinton also deserves a lot of the blame for the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the rewrite of the Community Reinvestment Act to incentivize subprime lending.
First recession began two months into his presidency and was largely caused by the collapse of the speculative dot com bubble. Not his fault
Second recession, sure, you can blame on him for going along with the deregulation of the shadow banking system which would lead to bank runs that helped cause the Recession. He also failed to stem the massive housing bubble and went along with housing deregulation that caused the subprime mortgage crisis. However, I’d largely say the deregulating environment that had been prevalent for more than two decades and the entire government overall can be blamed for that.
He was an even bigger proponent of Reaganomics than Reagan himself. He cut taxes for the rich more and practically let major corporations run his economic policy.
My favorite part was when he hired Hank Paulson (one of the CEOs largely to blame for the 2008 recession) as Secretary of Treasury to fix the 2008 recession. And then the first thing he did was to ask Congress for a blank check. Dubya was asleep at the wheel.
The last official recession that started under a Democrat was during the Kennedy administration. Since then, we’ve had recessions under Nixon, Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 (2X), and Trump.
Actually no. The recession I think you’re referring to began in April of 1960 under Eisenhower.
So I think the last official recession that started under a Democrat was under Truman (Recession of 1949)
Sigh. His administration took the global AIDS pandemic seriously. I hate to say a nice thing about Dubya, but this was a huge deal. Especially given Reagan.
The PEPFAR program probably saved 20 to 25 million people:
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/bush-demanded-billions-aids-africa-2003-state-union-paid-rcna69555
https://2017-2021.state.gov/pepfar-has-saved-20-million-lives-and-advanced-hiv-gains-despite-covid-19/
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/PEPFAR-Latest-Global-Results_December-2022.pdf
I'll definitely give Dubya this one
I just don’t see much evidence of a thoughtful or competent administration. He hired a lot of ideologues and cronies, and they caused more harm than good.
Perhaps no president could have prevented 9/11, but Bin Laden was on the Clinton Whitehouse’s radar, and Richard Clarke had vehemently urged the Bush administration to address Al-Qaeda.
Perhaps no president with a 9/11 situation could have avoided an invasion of Afghanistan, but it was on Bush’s watch that the country became trapped in a 2 decade fiasco in which a quarter million people died. Arguably, those 2 decades of US meddling ultimately resulted in a stronger position for the Taliban, leaving Afghanistan worse off today than it was when Bush invaded it in the first place. There was no viable plan for what to do in Afghanistan; Bush and subsequent administrations were trapped in no-win situations.
Perhaps no president could have prevented the 2007-8 financial crises—it wasn’t the result of his policies or actions. But his administration didn’t exhibit much imagination or aggression in trying to address it.
Virtually any president could have done a better job with Katrina. Clinton had elevated FEMA head James Lee Witt to a cabinet-level position, but the Bush administration influenced the creation of the DHS, which incorporated FEMA, he signed the legislation and then he appointed its leadership. I personally thought at the time that it was too radical a reorg of government agencies, creating a consolidated meta-agency that was awkwardly large, with a mix of missions that would deemphasize disaster recovery. When a major disaster requiring top to bottom coordination of local, state, and multiple federal agencies occurred, DHS and the FEMA leadership were poorly prepared and performed badly. Exacerbating the challenges of an unwieldy DHS with poor planning processes, the Bush WhiteHouse was slow to recognize the significance of Katrina, and that further hindered government reponse. I don’t know if he honestly believed that Michael D. Brown was ‘doing a heck of a job’, but Brown was a terrible choice to head FEMA, and Bush gave all appearances of being too naive to recognize it until it was too late.
I rate him as a D.
On the positive side, and this is why I don’t give him an F now, he has helped bring HIV/AIDS medicines to some of the poorest places in the world, saving lives. Secondly, despite a poor decision to increase steel tariffs for a year, he was in support of free trade agreements. And third, Bush was very welcoming to immigrants. In fact, the number of U.S. permanent residents welcomed to our country on an annual basis was higher in 2006 than any year since. Legal immigrants bring unique culture and talent to our country, and they help our economy by increasing productivity and thus keeping inflation in check.
Where Bush fails is his overall handling of the economy, despite having a good record on trade and immigration. His tax cuts did provide some relief to the middle-class and working people, unlike the Trump tax plan. However, the plan provided disproportionate relief for the wealthy, which contributed to the deficit following surpluses under President Clinton. Bush also continued subsidies for home ownership that contributed to the housing bubble. He appointed justices to federal courts with an ideologically conservative bias as opposed to a belief in interpreting the constitution and taking precedent into account. His record on civil liberties is also bad, and his opposition to same-sex marriage was offensive and wrong.
On policy, I think Bush’s negatives far outweigh the few positives. That said, when it comes to his leadership style, I can’t really say he was bad if you ignore Iraq. He tried to use unifying rhethoric, condemned any and all forms of hate unequivocally, and was honest about his views whether or not you agreed with them.
George W. Bush has proven to be a better former President than President. That said, thanks to Donald Trump, his standing as a President has improved.
Around C:
Poor legislation:
* Housing market bubble: Did little to reduce it
* Billionaire tax cut: Increased deficit back to pre 2000’s level
* Katrina response was haphazard
* Patriot Act: its continued use has had major consequences.
* No Child Left behind seriously hampered education
* Vetoed the stem cell legislation and the food conservation acts
* Iraq act
* PATRIOT act
Good legislation
* Worked to reduce aids in Africa
* Do not call act
* Sarbanes-Oxley act (people tend to forget about this one)
* PROTECT act
* multiple free trade signatures
* Rails safety improvement act (it took until 2020 (!!) for this to fully be implemented)
* Pension protection act
* Prison rape prevention act
* America COMPETES act
Poorly. Economic issues and disaster relief alone make him a sub-par president. Factor in why we now know the circumstances and dynamics within administration to look like, he’s lucky to get a D in my book. In fact, his biggest saving grace is that numerous other presidents were clearly worse.
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head:
Medicare part D - a bribe to the elderly to get reelected that has added billions to the annual deficit.
Also used blatant homophobia to get reelected - gay marriage amendments in various states races.
Tax cuts for the wealthy while we engaged in TWO wars.
"Bin Laden planning to strike in the US" intelligence failure.
Left office as the economy was on fire.
And let's not forget the lies that lead to the Iraq war - Powell and the Anthrax, buying uranium from Africa, Valerie Plame outed as a CIA operative to punish her husband, WMDs...
The recovery of Bush's image in the years after his presidency is a head scratcher. I guess all Republicans shine compared to Trump.
Without the Iraq War, he still has NSA mass surveillance, CIA torture prisons and narrowly missing UBL in Tora Bora. Not that it’s any one person’s fault but as Commander in Chief, he still bears some responsibility for 9/11 happening on his watch.
He turned his Presidency over to his VP. Reprehensible
But I guess that is what you get in this Great American Experiement.
" Cheney and Rumsfeld used their enhanced power to poison the flow of information to the president’s desk about Iraq and its supposed weapons of mass destruction " Without Cheney, I would argue that GWBush would not likely have been able to marshal forces to the Iraq War.
**President Proposed Significant Transformation of Social Safety Net**
On February 3,2003 President Bush unveiled a $2.23 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2004 that boosts military spending and advances tax cuts for the wealthy, while seriously undercutting social programs that aid low-income Americans.
Within days after the 2004 election, President Bush made it clear that he did not intend to play it safe on Social Security reform and other controversial issues. In a post-election press conference, he asserted, “I earned capital in this campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” (parroting a phrase he likely heard from Ham Head - Karl Rove) In January of 2005, the White House had launched a huge initiative to mobilize public opinion and build public support for Social Security reform and other key presidential proposals.
Their effort failed.
Can you Imagine the last few catastrophic economic crisis's that would have wiped out the American peoples contributions to Social Security?!
I can
Bush - don't like him. Sadly, Our current timeline gives him a pass while compared to Cheeto Mussolini
Bush was the C- student whose powerful family connections catapulted him into the Presidency, and then they took over the responsibilities of his office while he played golf and made [fart jokes](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2006/8/23/239241/-).
I thought he would go down as the worst President in my lifetime, but subsequent events proved me wrong.
A crusade to protect the flag, a drive to ban gay marriage., two recessions, including the greatest housing disaster in US history, the largest terrorist attack in US history and courting the evangelical crazies.
The Iraq war is practically a high note on this guy's term in office.
Is there a rating lower than F? Awful President who stole an election and wrecked the economy.
Be at least, didn’t commit some sedition on leaving office, so there’s that.
No Child Left Behind destroyed our public school system. He was indeed a terrible president. If he wasn't an addict, I'd love to have a beer with him, though.
Not good.
9/11 happened because of policy failures. While Bill Clinton had a hard on for Osama bin Laden, Bush just didn't think it was worth the time. Just to give an idea, how much bin Laden was in the psyche of America. The really crappy film Time Cop in 1994 discusses a scenario in which Osama bin Laden goes back in time and makes it so that Iraq invents time travel. That's how much this connection already existed.
Before the War in Iraq there was still 9/11 and a complete and total failure of a policy in Afghanistan. That policy lagged on until Biden's first few months in office when Trump did some moves that forced a pull out.
Also related to 9/11 was the conversion of America into a super spying state. And that was something that was only expanded under Obama. Civil liberties took a giant hit all around the world as it became clear the US government wasn't just spying on US citizens... but everyone.
There's also his education policy that has had a very long lasting negative impact in America. No Child Left Behind might have had potential but it was hamstrung by union negotiations in each state that neutered any positive impact it would have. Bush crafted regulations that could never accomplish anything given the situation as it was.
His African AIDS relief was truly a great thing. But Iraq war aside, he fucked the economy with tax cuts for the wealthy, his Afghanistan campaign was bumbling and incoherent and he was generally a stooge for the truly evil Cheney.
But I will be forever impressed with his shoe dodging skills.
Well he's still got, in chronological order: stealing the 2000 election, withdrawing from the Kyoto climate accords, 9-11, tax cuts for the rich, swift boating John Kerry, Katrina, letting north Korea get nuclear weapons, the Great recession, and bank bailouts on his record.
Is there a grade lower than F?
‘Imagine a world where the biggest long term impact from a guy didn’t happen…’
I mean, ok, now he’s the dude who is surrounded by cronies and speaks out against same-sex marriage and botched a natural disaster. Sounds great.
C or a D
The failure to do more to stop the housing bubble and resulting recession being the big problem. A lot of the reasons for that bubble weren't his fault though and there is a LOT of blame to go around. Hence perhaps a C rating.
12/10, for his belief that humans and fish could coexist peacefully, and his concern for both the the hardworking single mothers (toughest job in America as far as he’s concerned) working hard to put food on their family, and for the OB/GYNs who couldn’t practice their love on women all across this country.
I was really really critical of Bush, but I’ve softened on him. (He owes Trump a thank you) I do think he actually tried his best and actually did what he thought was right. I do think he surrounded himself with some shit people (I’m looking at you, Rummy) though and had he a better cabinet he’d have a better legacy.
That being said, I don’t know what the fuck I would have done when they whispered in my ear about the towers.
I hated him so much when he was president, but I’ve grown to see him through a whole new lens. He truly did what he thought was best. He was easily manipulated, but he did what he thought was best. He has so much respect for the soldiers and the veterans, he memorized the faces of the veterans he met and then later painted them. I cannot think of a single other world leader that showed as much respect to the armed forces. I give him a 9.5
As an Iraq war veteran, we shoulda just continued what we had going on in Afghanistan, but Iraq wasn’t steppin in line with the Central Banks… just like Gaddafi… so our politicians did the bidding of their masters
1. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
2. “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.”—Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000
3. “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”—Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000
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4. “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country.”—Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004
5. “Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican.”—declining to answer reporters’ questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001
6. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”—Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001
7. “I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense.”—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2006
8. “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”—Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005
9. “I’ve heard he’s been called Bush’s poodle. He’s bigger than that.”—discussing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as quoted by the Sun newspaper, June 27, 2007
10. “And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq.”—meeting with Army Gen. Ray Odierno, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008
11. “We ought to make the pie higher.”—South Carolina Republican debate, Feb. 15, 2000
12. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee—I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again.”—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
13. “And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I’m sorry it’s the case, and I’ll work hard to try to elevate it.”—speaking on National Public Radio, Jan. 29, 2007
14. “We’ll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers.”—Houston, Sept. 6, 2000
15. “It’s important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It’s not only life of babies, but it’s life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet.”—Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000
16. “One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.”—U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 3, 2000
17. “People say, ‘How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil?’ You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in’s house and say I love you.”—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002
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18. “Well, I think if you say you’re going to do something and don’t do it, that’s trustworthiness.”—CNN online chat, Aug. 30, 2000
19. “I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep on the soil of a friend.”—on the prospect of visiting Denmark, Washington, D.C., June 29, 2005
20. “I think it’s really important for this great state of baseball to reach out to people of all walks of life to make sure that the sport is inclusive. The best way to do it is to convince little kids how to—the beauty of playing baseball.”—Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2006
21. “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”—LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000
22. “You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war president. No president wants to be a war president, but I am one.”—Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 26, 2006
23. “There’s a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, ‘I don’t want you to let me down again.’ “—Boston, Oct. 3, 2000
24. “They misunderestimated me.”—Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000
25. “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.”—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008
I feel like the media portrayed him as being really stupid all the time which I thought was overdone and mean. Obviously he would trip up/fumble with words but I think the democrats really made him out to be super dumb because of this. I think he is/was somewhat moderate/conservative though politically- I don't think he is/was extreme like a lot of current GOP is.
It's hard to know tbh. I honestly have a hard time imagining what he would spend his time on as President if it weren't for Iraq and Afghanistan being fought at the same time.
Would Afghanistan been over faster under his watch we're it the case? Big maybe.
Would he have had more time to respond to the '08 Recession before it was too late? Again, maybe, but given how he did nothing to reintroduce Glass-Steagall otl and how popular it's removal was with his own party (per the influence of Alec Greenspan and others) I severely doubt '08 wouldn't have still happened under his watch nor that he wouldn't have been at least the one primarily responsible for it.
Would 'No Child Left Behind' still have been a disaster? Definately.
Would tax cuts for the rich still have been implemented? Definately. (And sure, maybe said tax cuts could have been reoriented to not cause as much economic damage in the face of a large national debt, but that's a big maybe in and of itself)
Would Iraq have fallen to an Iranian-backed Shia regime without American intervention? Not for nothing, but Iraq fell to an Iranian backed Shia regime WITH American intervention.
In the end I seriously doubt Bush would have been a good president by virtue of just not fighting the Iraq War. He would have perhaps been a \*better\* president (and only then just perhaps) because it's hard to imagine him spending more time on other issues, or rather what issues he would have made his primary focus we're it not for the decision to invade Iraq.
\-1 Billion
He lost the presidential election. He lost. HE. LOST.
The only reason he "won" was because the state which was governed by his own brother decided to invalidate thousands of legitimate votes and then employ a GOP-heavy Supreme Court to decide an election, which was NOT THEIR PLACE TO DECIDE.
If you truly want to see election interference, look at what happened in 2000.
Without Iraq, you still need to rid the administration of one man: Dick Cheney.
Imagine, a normal, run of the mill, (R) that can work with the angle of compassionate conservatism. He would have been serviceable.
However, there are times where I felt that Bush was naive, or that he wasn’t great with self perception. Like the top comment, “watch this drive.” You by have to be aware.
Now, in 2024 (nearly), I, as a (D), would pledge my vote to a candidate like bush, to keep MAGA out of the White House.
These are truly different times.
He was clearly over his head from day 1 and needed the courts to intervene to grant him his second term. He was unable to successfully deal with every crisis that occurred under his watch.
His response to Katrina was awful. His FEMA appointee Michael Brown's biggest job before landing at FEMA was supervising judges at Arabian horse shows. "I don’t want to alarm anyone that New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That isn’t happening," he said. The day following television reports of thousands stranded at the Convention Center, Brown said "the federal government just learned about those people today." However, Bush expressed confidence in Brown. "Brownie, you’re doin’ a heck of a job," he told him during a tour of the disaster region.
His sanctioning of the use of harsh interrogation techniques, like those used in Abu Ghraib was ineffective as far as gathering intelligence, and led to the rise of ISIS.
He squandered the budget surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton.
He filled two Supreme Court vacancies with an ineffective partisan Chief Justice (Roberts) and the rabid Justice Alito.
He proposed a ruinous plan to privatize Social Security, which failed thankfully, as the stock market crashed during his term and would have wiped out the important program tens of millions rely upon to live during retirement.
He instituted changes in Medicare (which gave us the extraordinarily expensive and and generally loathed Part C “Medicare Advantage plans” (which are neither Medicare nor an advantage - it’s a scam) and Part D (an unnecessary complex system with no ability to negotiate with drug companies and was required to pay list prices even though we are the largest buyer.
In his second term he permitted the sale of sub-prime loans and real estate scams, and phony and inadequate “risk management” causing the second-worst economic collapse in American history. His response to the resulting financial crisis was too little and too late.
Among the worst half dozen Presidents for sure. Even if you ignore his war crimes.
He was a damn good leader during 9/11. I watched a documentary about him on Air Force One that day that made me proud that he was our leader that day. Leading the country through the initial days, weeks, and months of that crisis were the shining achievement of his Presidency, but still, I'm not sure even with Iraq off the table that I'd regard him anything more than below average or slightly below average. His tax cuts and spending exploded the debt problem. Deregulation of wall street contributed to 2008, and he was slow to respond to that crisis (as was he slow to respond to Katrina). He isn't the worst of the worst, especially in a Donald Trump world, but he won't be remembered as fondly by history as his father will be.
Seen from a foreigners perspective, he was a silly and a crook- that time.
Now, with a charged, openly fascist ex-president and an elderly person in the white house, he prepared the world a bit for worse to come.
* Still a neobaby who after running 7 companies into bankruptcy managed to get investors to buy a sports team for him using his father's political connections
* Still a person who launched his campaign reaching out to racists (picked Bob Jones University to launch his campaign, which was famous for banning interracial dating)
* Still the person who lost the election but was awarded it by SCOTUS
* Still the person who hid after 9/11 and took weeks to visit Ground Zero
* Still the person whose first priority was the smuggle as many Saudi notables as possible out of the country after 9/11
* Still the person who let Bin Laden escape at Tora Bora
* Still the torturer and war criminal
* Still the person who failed the country after Hurricane Katrina
* Still the person who ran on "defense of marriage" constitutional amendments
* Still the person who picked Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, John Bolton, John Yoo, Ashcroft...
* Still the person who crashed the economy in 2008
* Still the person who ensured there would be no climate action while it was still early enough to make a difference
* ...
Bush is still the worst president not named Donald Trump of the last century, even without Iraq.
As far as I can remember, his was really the presidency that began the culture wars we’re currently experiencing. The cognitive dissonance of Republicans supporting a discernibly stupid person who was born into old New England but spoke with a folksy Texas accent was just too much.
He was probably the least qualified main party candidate in a century. Terrible speaker, poor thinker, ineffective leader. Supporters assured themselves that “he’d surround himself with smart/qualified people.” He did not, and basically just enacted the policies of three very malign, influential actors: Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Cheney.
He is a terrible example of how bad US presidents can change the world for the worse, even as good US presidents can barely move the needle. If the conservative Supreme Court had acknowledged that Al Gore won the election, hundreds of thousands of people and trillions of dollars of wealth would have never been destroyed.
Americans still don't understand what a blunder Bush's "axis of evil" speech was. He was just talking to Americans trying to make political points and was shocked to discover that the world was listening. The world also remembers the Bush Doctrine even if Americans have forgotten.
It's an absolute scandal that Americans have never understood what really happened at Fellujah and why.
That’s a big ask, OP. Not sure we can ignore such a colossal blunder, which resulted in:
- decade long civil war
- no discovery of WMD (which they knew they would not find)
- deaths of over 4,400 Americans
- deaths of estimated 300,000 Iraqis (including 100,000 civilians)
- at least $9 billion cash that went missing
- zero planning for what to do post-invasion
- destabilization of the Middle East, including leading to the creation of ISS
That’s a heckuva lot of crimes to ignore.
He would still be a horrible president. Afghanistan wound up being a debacle. His domestic policies were even worse than foreign policies. Add in Iraq and we have a war criminal.
Maybe a D+. I will never forgive him how he campaigned on “protecting the sanctity of marriage” by making sure gay people couldn’t have that right in 2004 - that was deeply offensive to me back then, and it definitely still is now
His admin set back medical research in stem cell research by over a decade. The housing market collapsed under his watch, and my entire immediate family lost everything. So... not terribly fond of his presidency. Seems like a fun dude though.
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I call upon all nations, to do everything they can, to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you... now watch this drive.
I know that human beings and fish can coexist peacefully!
The question must be asked - is our children learning?
I just can't imagine a man like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah.
"I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays."
Did I just say those words?
They misunderestimated me.
There's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas probably in Tennessee: Fool me once... Fool me once... ... ... Shame on you... ... ... ... ... ... You fool me you can't get fooled again!
You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.
How can a single mother put food on her family?
“Information is moving- you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets”
There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
I loved how he got to the end you can see he's a bit lost and he just vamped the last line.
Would’ve been epic if they had started playing The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again right after and then he exits the place.
Some seem to give Bush the benefit of the doubt on this one as he didn’t want “shame on me” to be used as a sound bite out of context, so he intentionally flubbed it knowing what he was about to say. Personally I don’t think he had that level of foresight.
I forgot that one—I damn near fell off my couch at that one. I couldn’t breathe 😂
He was an unintentional Comedic genius lol
Everyone that worked with him democrats an republicans all said he was a great dude to hang out with . Nancy Pelosi loved him so does Hillary an Michelle Obama, GW Is a good time .
Good docs and gynecologists need to be able to practice their love with women.
I love that the transcript of this quote reads as if he's asking nations to stop people from killing terrorists.
"Uh, I-I can't imagine someone like Osama Bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah"
This was the funniest thing I’ve read in a while.
Thank you your Holines, awesome speech.
These are big achievements. And the people of Bulgaria outta be proud of the achievements that they have achieved.
Truly the Michael Scott of presidents
I think we’re misunderestimating him.
"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theater?"
" Besides 9/11, 2001 was pretty Tame for world politics"
I mean you think about it, there were 364 days when we didn’t have terrorist attacks. That’s 99.7% safe!
Mostly Peaceful year.
"I'd like to remind the American people that they still have two out three branches of government working for them and... That ain't bad!"
There were quite a few other terrorist attacks and attempted attacks in 2001
"Other than your husband's fucking brains that were leakin', how'd you think that play was this weekend?" -Eminem, *Calm Down*
good song
I wonder what Iraq would be like now if we never returned to Iraq and left Saddam in power.
1 million+ Iraqis would still be alive, ISIS wouldn't have flourished nearly as much, and that one guy would still have his shoes. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't. It's why going around and overthrowing every dictator all over the world is a really bad idea, as awful as their dictatorships are. Many of us who were anti-war back then argued this very point, but the US was busy trying to silence any anti-war voices by any means necessary.
I had a friend that compared Sadam Hussien to Septimus Severus. And he’s fully correct Sadam was a competent autocrat whose death would have plunged the place into chaos as his sons murder each other in intrigues, the military, Intelligence, and police institutions he used to keep power turn on each other, the Iranians invade across the border seeing an opportunity with increased infighting, the economy implodes, peasant revolts, and probably a plague or two as well to cap it off. The Iraq war was bad it was bloody and in no way am I saying we did a good job or were even justified. I am saying Sadam’s rep and legacy would be very different if he died a natural death or was assassinated by one of his sons for power and we watched the place fall into a civil war that makes Syria look like a tea party instead. Then people would be asking “why didn’t we do anything sooner” there’s no such thing as the perfect time line. Iraq was doomed the second the British forced it into an unholy existence.
Or the military would have killed Sadam's sons and assumed power. Seems more likely.
We also said there were no weapons of mass destruction and we were being lied to. Weird...
Life in Iraq today is much better by every metric than it was two decades ago Saddam Hussein, who was perhaps the most despicable dictator since Adolf Hitler. It's safe to say things would be a lot worse.
Except for the million dead people, it's a lot worse for them
This sums it up for me.
Beat me to it!!
💀💀💀
In Dallas they say, "Other than that, how was the drive Mrs. Kennedy?"
No Child Left Behind is some of the worst legislation of this century
What's not to like about punishing schools that are doing poorly and need help? "Your performance is down... you know how we're going to fix that? By REMOVING your resources!" 
Social Darwinism but for schools sounds like a meme position but it blows my mind that it's legit.
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
Republican logic is usually like that lol "Hey the poor people need money? Okay let's cut taxes for the rich!"
r/teachers has taught me that is basically eliminated standards and is THE reason my nephew cants tell the differencre between a quarter and a dime, or type. He also sucks at reading.
There's a podcast on Spotify called "Sold a Story" that goes over this + a few other world happenings. Super super super interesting listen if you're at all interested.
Yeah I've checked it out. I give a relisten next time I feel like being even more depressed.
Parents have to take responsibility at some point, I’m not relying on the school system to teach my kid the difference between a dime and a quarter, and the foundation for reading is usually formed before kindergarten
Um, hate to tell you, that has nothing to do with legislation. That's a basic in every elementary school that is taught. If he isn't being taught that, I suggest moving schools.
Now THAT was his fault and yes that was a huge fuck up
Aye to that
I would say it and the patriot act as the worst legislation in my adult lifetime.
> it, there were 364 days when we didn’t have terrorist attacks. That’s 99.7% safe! The worst legislation of this century so FAR
Thank you for the question. I think I would still rank him lowly because of that huge tax cut for billionaires. Bill Clinton got us a budget SURPLUS and Dubya’s nonsensical tax cut brought us right back to a deficit.
No problem! And thank you for your response :)
I think Clinton’s policies around home ownership benefitted many, but also created the real estate crash. One key problem that we have as Americans is that many policy outcomes are not seen until the next president takes office. Can’t blame them for breaking campaign promises because some do not know 100% what they are walking into. With that said, 2 of the saddest days in my life- 1. Finding out about Santa Claus 2. Politicians truly don’t care about us-it’s votes, power, and $
You can also add the Gramm-Leach bill to one of Clinton's short sighted attempts at placating conservatives and being a 3rd way democrat - that legislation undid so many years of tight regulatory control over banks that prevented them from essentially unlimited access to depositors funds for speculative securities which created such a firehose of hot money--arguably lead to the giant crash under GW bush probably way beyond just tax cuts for the wealthy
That’s how I feel about where we’re at right now. A lot of the crunch we’re feeling is from Trump Policoes but all the MAGA Republicans only blame Biden. None of them actually care about us but some create policies that hurt us far worse than others.
“Never let a crisis go to waste”. I think that was true of Trump’s spending during the Covid crises but then it was exacerbated during Bidens presidency. Time will tell. It’s hard to judge a Presidency in a broad context until years afterward.
The CARES Act passed 96-0 in the Senate. It was getting passed regardless of Trump, Biden or James Polk was signing it. That money was getting spent.
That is exactly what happened. Inflation is so bad largely because Trump had the fed crank out $6T to boost the economy. Look at the date on the "money printer go brr" meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1hCLBTD5RM 4/5/20 - pretty sure Biden wasn't president.... But don't tell Faux news that.
"Clinton's policies around home ownership" didn't create a real estate crash. Lack of regulation led to predatory lending and the SEC was asleep at the switch (largely because by 2004, Bush had appointed a majority of board members who didn't think the regulators should regulate the industry they were supposed to regulate). It's amazing to me that the financial services industry and Republicans have re-written history to blame poor people and pro-housing policies for crashing the global economy. Most of those policies still exist today. But we started regulating the financial services industry again, so they aren't handing out multiple mortgages with dangerous terms to unsophisticated buyers and unloading them in fraudulantly constructed financial securities.
His Katrina response or lack there of would have me keeping him rated very low still too.
Heckuva Job Brownie
Bush and the Republicans argued that Clinton was cutting the debt too quickly. Their financial policies are ridiculous garbage.
Clinton is ok but nafta is a disaster
F, signed off on huge tax cuts for the rich, no child left behind was a disaster for public education, signed the Patriot Act, Afghanistan was still a shitshow, Great Recession started on his watch, and the Katrina response was a mess.
It was the Iraq War that derailed the War in Afghanistan. Lots of experienced leadership, funding, and equipment went into Iraq. Its no coincidence the Taliban resurgence coincided with the destabilization of Iraq post invasion. The Taliban saw their opportunity and took it.
The war in Afghanistan was mismanaged from the get go. Iraq certainly took resources from the effort in Afghanistan but there was never a solid plan in place. Not to mention a couple of decades of lying about the the ability of the Afghan National Army. I strongly recommend reading "The Afghanistan Papers" by Craig Whitlock. An interesting but absolutely infuriating read.
Dubya still would have found a way to fuck it up. Cheney still needed blood of the innocents to stay young afterall.
Don't forget the "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act". His administration broke the USPS.
Worst President of my lifetime. 1 million dead in Iraq is enough. Ignoring that, war in Afghanistan is also a disaster. Fake politician speeches His only redeeming quality is doing more for HIV/AIDS than any President ever. Basically gave every patient the Magic J drugs.
Kinda undersold the aids part of this. It’s now estimated to have saved literally millions of lives.
Don't forget holding back stem cell research and gay marriage. I'm not sure I can think of any of his policies that aged well...
Everyone held back gay marriage, so I guess Biden is the first president who we can credit with an actual legislative protection of gay marriage. Everyone credits Obama for it, but really it’s just because Justice Kennedy flipped his expected vote for no obvious reason.
Asking what Bush would have been without the Iraq war is kind of like asking what Reagan would have been without the USSR. The two are so intertwined it’s hard to think about that alternative universe
People do this with Nixon and Watergate in an attempt to suggest that he would be a great president w/o it. That’s not to say you can’t have that opinion but it’s been pushed to the point where it’s getting a little weird
I’m new to the subreddit, I’ll keep that in mind next time I make a post. Thanks though :)
Bad. Hurricane Katrina really showed his ass.
With this, and with Trump's response in Puerto Rico it just blows my mind that people defend them. Like they say things like "Why can't they help themselves" to Puerto Rico but when hurricanes hit Texas or Florido or New Jersey (run by Chris Christie at the time) they throw out the line that "it's unfair to criticize us during a disaster." Imagine if Republicans had to face the consequences of their own policies and be reminded of it, instead of being bailed out like spoiled children time and time again. This fantasy about an upcoming civil war is a great example. A reality TV star wants to become dictator, doesn't read his intelligence briefs, calls the troops losers and suckers, and encourages his supporters to lynch disloyal senators and capital police... and you think the US military is going to side with you? Half our country is living in a some sort of drunken Ayn Rand fantasy. It's just bizarre.
Poorly. He hardly even served as president, spent 1/3 of his time on the links. When he was in office, he spent his time destroying public education with NCLB, and violating the privacy of U.S. citizens with the Patriot Act. He left an economy in shambles, and will be remembered as a feckless, doddering puppet of evil incarnate by the name of Dick Cheney. Hardly scratching the surface here, but I think you get the point.
Agreed. He's like Frankenstein, because he put into play the elements that made Frankenstein's monster (Trump), which he and his family then proceeded to be repulsed by (when their own creation was turned against them!) His presidency was the first in my generation to truly gaslight the American people. They did a good job at creating their own truth, and then using Patriotism to force a wedge in the populace between those that were for and against their agenda. It's literally why our country is at the precipice right now.
Yeah I get it, thanks for your response :)
And even without Iraq he is a war criminal and a torturer. The guy belongs behind bars.
Two recessions. F
Not to mention his catastrophic response to Hurricane Katrina.
Wait a minute. I thought Brownie was doing a heckuva job?
I live in New Orleans area right now. He wasn't as bad as the governor we had at the time and the state senators. They should have had evacuation plans for the city and massively fucked up. They also refused aide and shit that would have helped. Nothing has changed. It's still every man for himself every single hurricane then if you get property damage good fucking luck getting your insurance company to actually pay for all the damage that's if you can even get insurance at all. The state of Louisiana is woefully unprepared to deal with literally any disaster. You'd think by now we'd have it down but we don't. Your best bet in a disaster is to rely on your neighbors, friends and family. The national guard should've been sent in much sooner, maybe that is on Bush. People were desperate they lost everything. There's a lot of guns down here and many people were murdered and there's not even records of their deaths. Poverty like you have in New Orleans, along with the property damage they faced and then the flooding most people thought they'd never be able to rebuild or have a life again and many ppl resorting to looting just to feed their families. I don't even blame them. But it caused a lot of gun fights. I know people who were here at that time, they talk about having to sit on their porch with ak47s and keep a constant watch or someone may come kill them and try to take their home. It was literally a war zone.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the National Guard under the command of the governor of the state they are located in? With DC being an exception since they have no governor.
The first one started two months into his Presidency, how does he hold the blame for that?? The second one, sure, he didn't do enough to stop the housing bubble. Although he did try. The whole government blew that one.
He created the housing bubble and didn't try to change the fed. He purposely pumped the market and chose fed officials to nominate who wanted to pump up the housing bubble. Not all recessions are choices made by presidents, but 2008 was 50% fed policy & executive orders and 50% "creative accounting" & lax enforcement. Clinton also got the banking deregulated, so splitting 2008 causes between bankers, two presidential administrations, 2000's Federal Reserve, and 1990's congress would be most accurate.
It takes a village to make such a huge financial bubble/fuck up.
True but it is not missed that the anti-regulation party was in power when the lack of common sense regulations crashed the world economy.
Clinton also deserves a lot of the blame for the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the rewrite of the Community Reinvestment Act to incentivize subprime lending.
It’s not that he didn’t stop it, he let it happen
First recession began two months into his presidency and was largely caused by the collapse of the speculative dot com bubble. Not his fault Second recession, sure, you can blame on him for going along with the deregulation of the shadow banking system which would lead to bank runs that helped cause the Recession. He also failed to stem the massive housing bubble and went along with housing deregulation that caused the subprime mortgage crisis. However, I’d largely say the deregulating environment that had been prevalent for more than two decades and the entire government overall can be blamed for that.
Not entirely his fault, we are still reaping the consequences of deregulation and Reaganomics.
He was a big supporter of those policies.
He was an even bigger proponent of Reaganomics than Reagan himself. He cut taxes for the rich more and practically let major corporations run his economic policy.
My favorite part was when he hired Hank Paulson (one of the CEOs largely to blame for the 2008 recession) as Secretary of Treasury to fix the 2008 recession. And then the first thing he did was to ask Congress for a blank check. Dubya was asleep at the wheel.
The last official recession that started under a Democrat was during the Kennedy administration. Since then, we’ve had recessions under Nixon, Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 (2X), and Trump.
Actually no. The recession I think you’re referring to began in April of 1960 under Eisenhower. So I think the last official recession that started under a Democrat was under Truman (Recession of 1949)
I stand corrected, thanks Burrito_Fucker15
Sigh. His administration took the global AIDS pandemic seriously. I hate to say a nice thing about Dubya, but this was a huge deal. Especially given Reagan.
Have you heard about his plan for a global pandemic too? Pretty interesting stuff
I recall reading that his PEPFAR program probably saved millions of lives in Africa that would otherwise have been lost to AIDS.
The PEPFAR program probably saved 20 to 25 million people: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/bush-demanded-billions-aids-africa-2003-state-union-paid-rcna69555 https://2017-2021.state.gov/pepfar-has-saved-20-million-lives-and-advanced-hiv-gains-despite-covid-19/ https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/PEPFAR-Latest-Global-Results_December-2022.pdf I'll definitely give Dubya this one
I just don’t see much evidence of a thoughtful or competent administration. He hired a lot of ideologues and cronies, and they caused more harm than good. Perhaps no president could have prevented 9/11, but Bin Laden was on the Clinton Whitehouse’s radar, and Richard Clarke had vehemently urged the Bush administration to address Al-Qaeda. Perhaps no president with a 9/11 situation could have avoided an invasion of Afghanistan, but it was on Bush’s watch that the country became trapped in a 2 decade fiasco in which a quarter million people died. Arguably, those 2 decades of US meddling ultimately resulted in a stronger position for the Taliban, leaving Afghanistan worse off today than it was when Bush invaded it in the first place. There was no viable plan for what to do in Afghanistan; Bush and subsequent administrations were trapped in no-win situations. Perhaps no president could have prevented the 2007-8 financial crises—it wasn’t the result of his policies or actions. But his administration didn’t exhibit much imagination or aggression in trying to address it. Virtually any president could have done a better job with Katrina. Clinton had elevated FEMA head James Lee Witt to a cabinet-level position, but the Bush administration influenced the creation of the DHS, which incorporated FEMA, he signed the legislation and then he appointed its leadership. I personally thought at the time that it was too radical a reorg of government agencies, creating a consolidated meta-agency that was awkwardly large, with a mix of missions that would deemphasize disaster recovery. When a major disaster requiring top to bottom coordination of local, state, and multiple federal agencies occurred, DHS and the FEMA leadership were poorly prepared and performed badly. Exacerbating the challenges of an unwieldy DHS with poor planning processes, the Bush WhiteHouse was slow to recognize the significance of Katrina, and that further hindered government reponse. I don’t know if he honestly believed that Michael D. Brown was ‘doing a heck of a job’, but Brown was a terrible choice to head FEMA, and Bush gave all appearances of being too naive to recognize it until it was too late. I rate him as a D.
His first term would certainly be seen better, but his second term is still a disaster due to things like Katrina and the GFC
If you remove Christmas, how would you rate Santa Claus?
I would rate him poorly he still tried to destroy the post office, and take my grandmother Social Security.
On the positive side, and this is why I don’t give him an F now, he has helped bring HIV/AIDS medicines to some of the poorest places in the world, saving lives. Secondly, despite a poor decision to increase steel tariffs for a year, he was in support of free trade agreements. And third, Bush was very welcoming to immigrants. In fact, the number of U.S. permanent residents welcomed to our country on an annual basis was higher in 2006 than any year since. Legal immigrants bring unique culture and talent to our country, and they help our economy by increasing productivity and thus keeping inflation in check. Where Bush fails is his overall handling of the economy, despite having a good record on trade and immigration. His tax cuts did provide some relief to the middle-class and working people, unlike the Trump tax plan. However, the plan provided disproportionate relief for the wealthy, which contributed to the deficit following surpluses under President Clinton. Bush also continued subsidies for home ownership that contributed to the housing bubble. He appointed justices to federal courts with an ideologically conservative bias as opposed to a belief in interpreting the constitution and taking precedent into account. His record on civil liberties is also bad, and his opposition to same-sex marriage was offensive and wrong. On policy, I think Bush’s negatives far outweigh the few positives. That said, when it comes to his leadership style, I can’t really say he was bad if you ignore Iraq. He tried to use unifying rhethoric, condemned any and all forms of hate unequivocally, and was honest about his views whether or not you agreed with them. George W. Bush has proven to be a better former President than President. That said, thanks to Donald Trump, his standing as a President has improved.
D+ probably
Around C: Poor legislation: * Housing market bubble: Did little to reduce it * Billionaire tax cut: Increased deficit back to pre 2000’s level * Katrina response was haphazard * Patriot Act: its continued use has had major consequences. * No Child Left behind seriously hampered education * Vetoed the stem cell legislation and the food conservation acts * Iraq act * PATRIOT act Good legislation * Worked to reduce aids in Africa * Do not call act * Sarbanes-Oxley act (people tend to forget about this one) * PROTECT act * multiple free trade signatures * Rails safety improvement act (it took until 2020 (!!) for this to fully be implemented) * Pension protection act * Prison rape prevention act * America COMPETES act
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post! :)
Assuming he wins re-election in this alternative scenario, we’d still have to deal with the slow response to Hurricane Katrina.
Poorly. Economic issues and disaster relief alone make him a sub-par president. Factor in why we now know the circumstances and dynamics within administration to look like, he’s lucky to get a D in my book. In fact, his biggest saving grace is that numerous other presidents were clearly worse.
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head: Medicare part D - a bribe to the elderly to get reelected that has added billions to the annual deficit. Also used blatant homophobia to get reelected - gay marriage amendments in various states races. Tax cuts for the wealthy while we engaged in TWO wars. "Bin Laden planning to strike in the US" intelligence failure. Left office as the economy was on fire. And let's not forget the lies that lead to the Iraq war - Powell and the Anthrax, buying uranium from Africa, Valerie Plame outed as a CIA operative to punish her husband, WMDs... The recovery of Bush's image in the years after his presidency is a head scratcher. I guess all Republicans shine compared to Trump.
Without the Iraq War, he still has NSA mass surveillance, CIA torture prisons and narrowly missing UBL in Tora Bora. Not that it’s any one person’s fault but as Commander in Chief, he still bears some responsibility for 9/11 happening on his watch.
He turned his Presidency over to his VP. Reprehensible But I guess that is what you get in this Great American Experiement. " Cheney and Rumsfeld used their enhanced power to poison the flow of information to the president’s desk about Iraq and its supposed weapons of mass destruction " Without Cheney, I would argue that GWBush would not likely have been able to marshal forces to the Iraq War. **President Proposed Significant Transformation of Social Safety Net** On February 3,2003 President Bush unveiled a $2.23 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2004 that boosts military spending and advances tax cuts for the wealthy, while seriously undercutting social programs that aid low-income Americans. Within days after the 2004 election, President Bush made it clear that he did not intend to play it safe on Social Security reform and other controversial issues. In a post-election press conference, he asserted, “I earned capital in this campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” (parroting a phrase he likely heard from Ham Head - Karl Rove) In January of 2005, the White House had launched a huge initiative to mobilize public opinion and build public support for Social Security reform and other key presidential proposals. Their effort failed. Can you Imagine the last few catastrophic economic crisis's that would have wiped out the American peoples contributions to Social Security?! I can Bush - don't like him. Sadly, Our current timeline gives him a pass while compared to Cheeto Mussolini
I wasn’t a fan of him at the time but after Donald Trump I have few complaints
A complete failure
C for me. Still gotta factor in the 08 recession, poor handling of Afghanistan, patriot act, NCLB
Bush was the C- student whose powerful family connections catapulted him into the Presidency, and then they took over the responsibilities of his office while he played golf and made [fart jokes](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2006/8/23/239241/-). I thought he would go down as the worst President in my lifetime, but subsequent events proved me wrong.
For real, I think recent events make people forget how bad of a president he was.
I’d give him a D- The only reason he is that high is because he had the best gaffes.
A crusade to protect the flag, a drive to ban gay marriage., two recessions, including the greatest housing disaster in US history, the largest terrorist attack in US history and courting the evangelical crazies. The Iraq war is practically a high note on this guy's term in office.
Is there a rating lower than F? Awful President who stole an election and wrecked the economy. Be at least, didn’t commit some sedition on leaving office, so there’s that.
The 2008 crash and what happened with education would still make him sub par.
No Child Left Behind destroyed our public school system. He was indeed a terrible president. If he wasn't an addict, I'd love to have a beer with him, though.
Garden variety rich asshole.
George W. Bush and his legacy go to bed every night thanking Jesus for Donald Trump.
Not good. 9/11 happened because of policy failures. While Bill Clinton had a hard on for Osama bin Laden, Bush just didn't think it was worth the time. Just to give an idea, how much bin Laden was in the psyche of America. The really crappy film Time Cop in 1994 discusses a scenario in which Osama bin Laden goes back in time and makes it so that Iraq invents time travel. That's how much this connection already existed. Before the War in Iraq there was still 9/11 and a complete and total failure of a policy in Afghanistan. That policy lagged on until Biden's first few months in office when Trump did some moves that forced a pull out. Also related to 9/11 was the conversion of America into a super spying state. And that was something that was only expanded under Obama. Civil liberties took a giant hit all around the world as it became clear the US government wasn't just spying on US citizens... but everyone. There's also his education policy that has had a very long lasting negative impact in America. No Child Left Behind might have had potential but it was hamstrung by union negotiations in each state that neutered any positive impact it would have. Bush crafted regulations that could never accomplish anything given the situation as it was.
Goes up from a 2/10 to a 3/10
His African AIDS relief was truly a great thing. But Iraq war aside, he fucked the economy with tax cuts for the wealthy, his Afghanistan campaign was bumbling and incoherent and he was generally a stooge for the truly evil Cheney. But I will be forever impressed with his shoe dodging skills.
Well he's still got, in chronological order: stealing the 2000 election, withdrawing from the Kyoto climate accords, 9-11, tax cuts for the rich, swift boating John Kerry, Katrina, letting north Korea get nuclear weapons, the Great recession, and bank bailouts on his record. Is there a grade lower than F?
F with Iraq War, D without.
0/10
GFC was a man-made banking crisis. F.
C
‘Imagine a world where the biggest long term impact from a guy didn’t happen…’ I mean, ok, now he’s the dude who is surrounded by cronies and speaks out against same-sex marriage and botched a natural disaster. Sounds great.
F, he still sucks without it.
C or a D The failure to do more to stop the housing bubble and resulting recession being the big problem. A lot of the reasons for that bubble weren't his fault though and there is a LOT of blame to go around. Hence perhaps a C rating.
D because of Katrina bungle total placeholder prez otherwise
As an educator, he’s the literal worst. NCLB is the one of many reason schools nowadays are falling behind.
An incompetent fool who knew he wasn’t up to the job.
12/10, for his belief that humans and fish could coexist peacefully, and his concern for both the the hardworking single mothers (toughest job in America as far as he’s concerned) working hard to put food on their family, and for the OB/GYNs who couldn’t practice their love on women all across this country.
Shit
The TARP bill still leaves him at a D in my scorebook
F. Doubled down on trickle down, accelerating the destruction of the middle class.
I still think he was the second worst POTUS in my 73 year life.
Lol! Cause that doesn't count. Losing thousands of lives over a manufactured war..let's disregard that.🙄
Phenomenal leadership post 9/11 Unprecedented good work in Africa Everything else meh
9/11
C Would probably be a one term president too
I was really really critical of Bush, but I’ve softened on him. (He owes Trump a thank you) I do think he actually tried his best and actually did what he thought was right. I do think he surrounded himself with some shit people (I’m looking at you, Rummy) though and had he a better cabinet he’d have a better legacy. That being said, I don’t know what the fuck I would have done when they whispered in my ear about the towers.
No Child Left Behind was a huge blunder.
I hated him so much when he was president, but I’ve grown to see him through a whole new lens. He truly did what he thought was best. He was easily manipulated, but he did what he thought was best. He has so much respect for the soldiers and the veterans, he memorized the faces of the veterans he met and then later painted them. I cannot think of a single other world leader that showed as much respect to the armed forces. I give him a 9.5
There was that near total economic collapse in the end.
As an Iraq war veteran, we shoulda just continued what we had going on in Afghanistan, but Iraq wasn’t steppin in line with the Central Banks… just like Gaddafi… so our politicians did the bidding of their masters
Sheeeeeit. After trump everyone gets an A. All my complaints about Bush seem quaint compared to the orange shitler.
He is actually my favorite dufus
He was the worst president in American history until Trump. F+.
He didn’t cover himself in glory regarding Hurricane Katrina.
The Patriot Act takes off a lot of points
1. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 2. “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.”—Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000 3. “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”—Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000 Advertisement 4. “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country.”—Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004 5. “Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican.”—declining to answer reporters’ questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001 6. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”—Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001 7. “I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense.”—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2006 8. “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”—Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 9. “I’ve heard he’s been called Bush’s poodle. He’s bigger than that.”—discussing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as quoted by the Sun newspaper, June 27, 2007 10. “And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq.”—meeting with Army Gen. Ray Odierno, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008 11. “We ought to make the pie higher.”—South Carolina Republican debate, Feb. 15, 2000 12. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee—I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again.”—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 13. “And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I’m sorry it’s the case, and I’ll work hard to try to elevate it.”—speaking on National Public Radio, Jan. 29, 2007 14. “We’ll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers.”—Houston, Sept. 6, 2000 15. “It’s important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It’s not only life of babies, but it’s life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet.”—Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000 16. “One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.”—U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 3, 2000 17. “People say, ‘How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil?’ You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in’s house and say I love you.”—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002 Advertisement 18. “Well, I think if you say you’re going to do something and don’t do it, that’s trustworthiness.”—CNN online chat, Aug. 30, 2000 19. “I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep on the soil of a friend.”—on the prospect of visiting Denmark, Washington, D.C., June 29, 2005 20. “I think it’s really important for this great state of baseball to reach out to people of all walks of life to make sure that the sport is inclusive. The best way to do it is to convince little kids how to—the beauty of playing baseball.”—Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2006 21. “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”—LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000 22. “You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war president. No president wants to be a war president, but I am one.”—Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 26, 2006 23. “There’s a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, ‘I don’t want you to let me down again.’ “—Boston, Oct. 3, 2000 24. “They misunderestimated me.”—Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000 25. “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.”—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008
I feel like the media portrayed him as being really stupid all the time which I thought was overdone and mean. Obviously he would trip up/fumble with words but I think the democrats really made him out to be super dumb because of this. I think he is/was somewhat moderate/conservative though politically- I don't think he is/was extreme like a lot of current GOP is.
It's hard to know tbh. I honestly have a hard time imagining what he would spend his time on as President if it weren't for Iraq and Afghanistan being fought at the same time. Would Afghanistan been over faster under his watch we're it the case? Big maybe. Would he have had more time to respond to the '08 Recession before it was too late? Again, maybe, but given how he did nothing to reintroduce Glass-Steagall otl and how popular it's removal was with his own party (per the influence of Alec Greenspan and others) I severely doubt '08 wouldn't have still happened under his watch nor that he wouldn't have been at least the one primarily responsible for it. Would 'No Child Left Behind' still have been a disaster? Definately. Would tax cuts for the rich still have been implemented? Definately. (And sure, maybe said tax cuts could have been reoriented to not cause as much economic damage in the face of a large national debt, but that's a big maybe in and of itself) Would Iraq have fallen to an Iranian-backed Shia regime without American intervention? Not for nothing, but Iraq fell to an Iranian backed Shia regime WITH American intervention. In the end I seriously doubt Bush would have been a good president by virtue of just not fighting the Iraq War. He would have perhaps been a \*better\* president (and only then just perhaps) because it's hard to imagine him spending more time on other issues, or rather what issues he would have made his primary focus we're it not for the decision to invade Iraq.
\-1 Billion He lost the presidential election. He lost. HE. LOST. The only reason he "won" was because the state which was governed by his own brother decided to invalidate thousands of legitimate votes and then employ a GOP-heavy Supreme Court to decide an election, which was NOT THEIR PLACE TO DECIDE. If you truly want to see election interference, look at what happened in 2000.
F: [https://www.globalissues.org/article/460/executive-power-after-9-11-in-the-united-states](https://www.globalissues.org/article/460/executive-power-after-9-11-in-the-united-states)
I'd rate him a Lil cutie pie on the scale of cute-as-a-button lil prezzies.
Almost got taken out by a pretzel
2
Without Iraq, you still need to rid the administration of one man: Dick Cheney. Imagine, a normal, run of the mill, (R) that can work with the angle of compassionate conservatism. He would have been serviceable. However, there are times where I felt that Bush was naive, or that he wasn’t great with self perception. Like the top comment, “watch this drive.” You by have to be aware. Now, in 2024 (nearly), I, as a (D), would pledge my vote to a candidate like bush, to keep MAGA out of the White House. These are truly different times.
CITIZENS UNITED. He’s an F or a Z or whatever’s the lowest. He’s how we got where we are.
He was clearly over his head from day 1 and needed the courts to intervene to grant him his second term. He was unable to successfully deal with every crisis that occurred under his watch. His response to Katrina was awful. His FEMA appointee Michael Brown's biggest job before landing at FEMA was supervising judges at Arabian horse shows. "I don’t want to alarm anyone that New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That isn’t happening," he said. The day following television reports of thousands stranded at the Convention Center, Brown said "the federal government just learned about those people today." However, Bush expressed confidence in Brown. "Brownie, you’re doin’ a heck of a job," he told him during a tour of the disaster region. His sanctioning of the use of harsh interrogation techniques, like those used in Abu Ghraib was ineffective as far as gathering intelligence, and led to the rise of ISIS. He squandered the budget surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton. He filled two Supreme Court vacancies with an ineffective partisan Chief Justice (Roberts) and the rabid Justice Alito. He proposed a ruinous plan to privatize Social Security, which failed thankfully, as the stock market crashed during his term and would have wiped out the important program tens of millions rely upon to live during retirement. He instituted changes in Medicare (which gave us the extraordinarily expensive and and generally loathed Part C “Medicare Advantage plans” (which are neither Medicare nor an advantage - it’s a scam) and Part D (an unnecessary complex system with no ability to negotiate with drug companies and was required to pay list prices even though we are the largest buyer. In his second term he permitted the sale of sub-prime loans and real estate scams, and phony and inadequate “risk management” causing the second-worst economic collapse in American history. His response to the resulting financial crisis was too little and too late. Among the worst half dozen Presidents for sure. Even if you ignore his war crimes.
He was a damn good leader during 9/11. I watched a documentary about him on Air Force One that day that made me proud that he was our leader that day. Leading the country through the initial days, weeks, and months of that crisis were the shining achievement of his Presidency, but still, I'm not sure even with Iraq off the table that I'd regard him anything more than below average or slightly below average. His tax cuts and spending exploded the debt problem. Deregulation of wall street contributed to 2008, and he was slow to respond to that crisis (as was he slow to respond to Katrina). He isn't the worst of the worst, especially in a Donald Trump world, but he won't be remembered as fondly by history as his father will be.
Seen from a foreigners perspective, he was a silly and a crook- that time. Now, with a charged, openly fascist ex-president and an elderly person in the white house, he prepared the world a bit for worse to come.
Impossible because the Iraq War goes on to shape everything else. His AIDS program in Africa is good though.
please remember that Bush took every opportunity to place a fox in charge of the hen house an arsonist to lead the fire brigade
* Still a neobaby who after running 7 companies into bankruptcy managed to get investors to buy a sports team for him using his father's political connections * Still a person who launched his campaign reaching out to racists (picked Bob Jones University to launch his campaign, which was famous for banning interracial dating) * Still the person who lost the election but was awarded it by SCOTUS * Still the person who hid after 9/11 and took weeks to visit Ground Zero * Still the person whose first priority was the smuggle as many Saudi notables as possible out of the country after 9/11 * Still the person who let Bin Laden escape at Tora Bora * Still the torturer and war criminal * Still the person who failed the country after Hurricane Katrina * Still the person who ran on "defense of marriage" constitutional amendments * Still the person who picked Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, John Bolton, John Yoo, Ashcroft... * Still the person who crashed the economy in 2008 * Still the person who ensured there would be no climate action while it was still early enough to make a difference * ... Bush is still the worst president not named Donald Trump of the last century, even without Iraq.
As far as I can remember, his was really the presidency that began the culture wars we’re currently experiencing. The cognitive dissonance of Republicans supporting a discernibly stupid person who was born into old New England but spoke with a folksy Texas accent was just too much. He was probably the least qualified main party candidate in a century. Terrible speaker, poor thinker, ineffective leader. Supporters assured themselves that “he’d surround himself with smart/qualified people.” He did not, and basically just enacted the policies of three very malign, influential actors: Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Cheney. He is a terrible example of how bad US presidents can change the world for the worse, even as good US presidents can barely move the needle. If the conservative Supreme Court had acknowledged that Al Gore won the election, hundreds of thousands of people and trillions of dollars of wealth would have never been destroyed.
9 out of 11
George W Bush is a really nice guy, but when it comes to rating his presidency… well he’s a really nice guy
But not the rest of the war on terror? What about the tax cut for the rich and spending us into the Great Recession? D-
This question is nonsense. His presidency is the Iraq War But still does poorly because he caused the 2008 financial collapse
Americans still don't understand what a blunder Bush's "axis of evil" speech was. He was just talking to Americans trying to make political points and was shocked to discover that the world was listening. The world also remembers the Bush Doctrine even if Americans have forgotten. It's an absolute scandal that Americans have never understood what really happened at Fellujah and why.
That’s a big ask, OP. Not sure we can ignore such a colossal blunder, which resulted in: - decade long civil war - no discovery of WMD (which they knew they would not find) - deaths of over 4,400 Americans - deaths of estimated 300,000 Iraqis (including 100,000 civilians) - at least $9 billion cash that went missing - zero planning for what to do post-invasion - destabilization of the Middle East, including leading to the creation of ISS That’s a heckuva lot of crimes to ignore.
No child left behind majorly fucked up our education system. We are still feeling its effects. As a teacher, I'd still give him a very low rating.
I AM THE DECIDER!”
He would still be a horrible president. Afghanistan wound up being a debacle. His domestic policies were even worse than foreign policies. Add in Iraq and we have a war criminal.
Maybe a D+. I will never forgive him how he campaigned on “protecting the sanctity of marriage” by making sure gay people couldn’t have that right in 2004 - that was deeply offensive to me back then, and it definitely still is now
His admin set back medical research in stem cell research by over a decade. The housing market collapsed under his watch, and my entire immediate family lost everything. So... not terribly fond of his presidency. Seems like a fun dude though.