Was Bush the worst President ever?

[iamwhatiseem]

So - which guy is worse than the other in this simple story?

Both are city planners, one retired 10 years before the other guy.
Planner 1) Was obviously an intelligent, well spoken gent who was very popular with the citizens. During his time the city "grew" and everything looked extremely promising when he left office. 10 years after he left, the city fell on hard times. Offices were closed, people lost their jobs, city services declined - things were very bad. Looking back, Planner 1 built a "castle made of sand" - setting up policies that had enormous short term gains, but if continued - long-term failure was inevitable. His administrators engaged in out right corruption with financial giants that produced unheard of gains - the people were happy...until the reality of the corrupt plans came to fruition.

Planner 2 Was obviously not the brightest man alive. He was not very popular with the citizens. During his time the city continued to prosper but problems were building. Problems that would take enormous effort to overcome and would cause an immediate end to the prosperity. Planner 2 ignored the signs, and wasn't really equipped enough to deal with them properly in the first place. So he listened to his administration which basically ignored everything. nearing his retirement the city collapsed under the weight of financial schemes, over-borrowing etc.

So - which guy is worse?

 

[JoeB131]

Obama is the WORST in my book, then Carter

Carter must be happy the Dear leader came aboard..took him off the as the worst

Bush was still worse than either one of them.

Just in terms of the number of Americans killed on his watch.

How many were killed under LBJs watch?

A lot. And LBJ isn't really claimed by anyone. Conservatives won't forgive him for the Great Society, and Democrats won't forgive him for Vietnam (even though he didn't start it.)

40 years of history HAVEN'T sweetened LBJ's reputation. We are still feeling more angst about Vietnam than the Vietnamese do.

Not to say that you can't have a good reputation despite a war. But you better accomplish what you set out to acheive. It also helps if you die just about the time the war ends. (Lincoln, FDR) and leave the next guy holding the bag for the aftermath.

 

[Yurt]

This thread is about the presidency of George Bush not Nagin

Bush had a thousand times the resources at his disposal that Nagin had

of course it is, however, you made it about nagin and blanco.

don't shy away just because you realize your argument is screwed.

?

you posted:

To think that a hurricane of the destructive power of Katrina could have been handled at the local and state level shows who is neither intelligent or fair

thus, YOU brought up nagin and blanco and when you realized your argument was going south, you whined that this thread is about bush. you wussed out RW. you do this every time you start losing.

 

[eflatminor]

Conservatives won't forgive him for the Great Society

I should hope not. A half a century and trillions of dollars later, the rate of poverty has INCREASED! A complete and utter failure in which more harm than good was done by that fucking meddling central planner.

and Democrats won't forgive him for Vietnam

They seem to have no problem forgiving Obama for Afghanistan and all the other little wars he's involved us in...even though he doesn't call it "war". They're happy bombs being delivered by those drones you see...

 

[Oldstyle]

Bush approval rating has risen since he left office it is tied with Obama now . I think the worst is Obama then Carter in my opinion

Actually, Bush's rating is still pathetic for an ex-president.

They usually have high approval ratings when they are ex-presidents. Bush is still underwater 5 years later.

With all due respect, Joe...isn't he STILL being blamed by progressives 5 years later? I mean it's almost become farce at this point. W's been back in Crawford cutting brush for five years and the Left is still obsessed with blaming him. Your previous post about what Bush will ultimately be judged on was rather astute by the way...which is why I think in the long run his reputation will continue to improve because he really didn't handle any of them badly and handled many of them quite well. TARP was his baby...he took major heat from conservatives on it but he felt it was needed and pulled the trigger on it...probably keeping the economy from cratering. From my vantage point it's TARP that pulled us back from the brink...not the stimulus that followed.

 

[Redfish]

Obama is the WORST in my book, then Carter

Carter must be happy the Dear leader came aboard..took him off the as the worst

Bush was still worse than either one of them.

Just in terms of the number of Americans killed on his watch.

How many were killed under LBJs watch?

If you want a really big number combine LBJ and Kennedy.

Come on libs, what exactly did the USA get for the 58,000 dead americans and billions of dollars in Kennedy and Johnson's viet nam war?

 

[Redfish]

Obama is the WORST in my book, then Carter

Carter must be happy the Dear leader came aboard..took him off the as the worst

Bush was still worse than either one of them.

Just in terms of the number of Americans killed on his watch.

was too, was not, was too, was not------------are you children?

 

[Stephanie]

leave it to the WEAK-week to come up with this...desperation is all I see trying to take the heat off the Dear Leader..

tsk tsk not working

 

[Redfish]

Nearly 60 percent of the historians and political scientists in a 2006 Siena College survey rated Bush's presidency a failure and two-thirds said he did not have a realistic chance of improving his standing.

A 2010 Siena ranking of presidential scholars rated Bush as one of the nation's five worst presidents. A similar 2009 C-SPAN ranking put Bush in the bottom eight.

It is certainly possible that years of reflection and a reinterpretation of his presidency could end up putting Bush in a more positive light, but there's no avoiding the reality that his decision to go to war in Iraq and policies of fiscal recklessness led to huge problems for the country. These are problems the country may still be reeling from as historians give Bush their second look

A lot of these same historians said that Reagan would be disregarded, and he really has a pretty good rep today.

There are four things Bush should be judged on.

9-11
Iraq
Katrina
The Great Recession

9/11, he provided strong leadership, and history will look at him kindly on that, despite what the Bush Derangement Crowd says.

Iraq is more dubious, because he was the guy left holding the bag on that one. (Democrats like to forget they all voted for the war resolution and some of them had been banging the war drum for a decade.) I think how relevent it will be is if there is another war in the future that is bloodier, then Iraq won't seem like such a big deal. (Just like Gulf War I isn't seen as a big deal now.) It also depends on how the Iraqi government acts in the future. there is not going to be a "helicopter on the rooftop" moment in Iraq.

Katrina pretty much did in his presidency in real time. Even his own aides admit that no one was interested in anything the President had to say after Katrina. However, Katrina has largely faded from memory today, and I think no one will remember it in a decade.

That leaves the Great Recession. I think this is where Bush will be treated kindly, because he didn't listen to the idealogues on this one. He took quick action to prop up the banking industry (although some dubious actions were involved) and probably prevented the Great Recession from becoming the Greater Depression. Also because most of the pain of the Great Recession occurred on Obama's watch, Obama owns as much of it as Bush does.

Overall- a President's greatness is based on how he handled crisis in real time, and which presidents bookended him.

Lincoln is the greatest president by most estimations, because he handled our worst crisis (the only one that threated to END the United States) and because he was bookended by the two worst presidents (One who allowed a civil war and one who was impeached).

What Bush's greatest out in history is going to be is that he was bookended by Clinton and Obama, neither of whom are anything to write home about.

9/11---- might not have happened if clinton had taken OBL when sudan offered him up

Iraq ---- stupid unnecessary war, but congress authorized and funded it, Bush did not do it alone

Katrina ---- the failures were at the state and local level, FEMA was as good as they were in NY and NJ after Sandy

The great recession ---- Duh, I guess you think that Bush did that all by himself. You cannot be as ignorant as you seem, no one could be.

 

[Redfish]

leave it to the WEAK-week to come up with this...desperation is all I see trying to take the heat off the Dear Leader..

tsk tsk not working

correct, the libtards think that their bash-bush obsession will take the spotlight off of obama's marxism and his massive economic failures-----not hapnin.

 

[Spoonman]

he will go down in history as the worst or second worst

obama already knocked bush out of the bottom spot. all that remains to be seen now is how low obama sets the bar.

 

[Spoonman]

leave it to the WEAK-week to come up with this...desperation is all I see trying to take the heat off the Dear Leader..

tsk tsk not working

hope and change went out the window in the first two years of obama's presidency. what else do they have to go on? obama even ruined the clinton legacy and hilary's shot at 2016.

 

[Redfish]

he will go down in history as the worst or second worst

obama already knocked bush out of the bottom spot. all that remains to be seen now is how low obama sets the bar.

true, we need to remember why the libtards hate Bush so much.

He beat their clowns twice in close elections, they lost to him so they hate him. really quite simple.


now, before some lib jumps in, most conservatives do not hate obama the man, they hate his ideology and what he wants to turn this country into.

If he called me for a game of golf or to shoot some hoops, I am sure I would enjoy it. and if Bush called me to go riding or hunting I am sure I would enjoy that too.

thats where conservatives and liberals differ----------liberals always want it to to be personal, to destroy the person with lies and innuendo. while we just let the facts do it.

 

[poet]

he will go down in history as the worst or second worst

obama already knocked bush out of the bottom spot. all that remains to be seen now is how low obama sets the bar.

true, we need to remember why the libtards hate Bush so much.

He beat their clowns twice in close elections, they lost to him so they hate him. really quite simple.


now, before some lib jumps in, most conservatives do not hate obama the man, they hate his ideology and what he wants to turn this country into.

If he called me for a game of golf or to shoot some hoops, I am sure I would enjoy it. and if Bush called me to go riding or hunting I am sure I would enjoy that too.

thats where conservatives and liberals differ----------liberals always want it to to be personal, to destroy the person with lies and innuendo. while we just let the facts do it.

That's not it. And you would know a fact, if it punched you in the face.

 

[Sarah G]

Worst, demented - Reagan/Bush
Tied for second - GWB/Cheney

When was Cheney president, dopey?

He wasn't technically the president but they were the worst all the same. ReaganBushBushCheney, all terrible.

 

[Spoonman]

he will go down in history as the worst or second worst

obama already knocked bush out of the bottom spot. all that remains to be seen now is how low obama sets the bar.

true, we need to remember why the libtards hate Bush so much.

He beat their clowns twice in close elections, they lost to him so they hate him. really quite simple.


now, before some lib jumps in, most conservatives do not hate obama the man, they hate his ideology and what he wants to turn this country into.

If he called me for a game of golf or to shoot some hoops, I am sure I would enjoy it. and if Bush called me to go riding or hunting I am sure I would enjoy that too.

thats where conservatives and liberals differ----------liberals always want it to to be personal, to destroy the person with lies and innuendo. while we just let the facts do it.

obama is probably a decent guy. he just sucks as a president.

 

[ScienceRocks]

If he was the worse, then Obama has out done him.

Can you give me a good reason why this isn't so?

 

[ScienceRocks]

I was listening to my democratic mother whine about the economy under Bush in 2004, 2005, 2006. Well, During those times the economy was 4.5-6% with 3% larger work force.

Bush wasn't spending trillion dollar deficits per year either. Yes, there's many things you can blame him for and he wasn't a good president.
-Wasn't good to start the nation building
-Wasn't good to spend as he did
-Wasn't good on the illegal issue
-Was a leftist on a large amount of his policies

I'll admit that Clinton was likely the better president.

 

[Lakhota]

I wonder if Bush's new lieberry will include the "factual" history of the 2000 and 2004 elections? I doubt it...

Gore Won Florida

Kerry Won Ohio

 

[ScienceRocks]

Worst, demented - Reagan/Bush
Tied for second - GWB/Cheney

When was Cheney president, dopey?

He wasn't technically the president but they were the worst all the same. ReaganBushBushCheney, all terrible.

4.5 years of 7% unemployment doesn't mean anything to you. You people live in dream land...And I'm not saying that Bush didn't fuck up, as he did.