Thoughts About President George W. Bush

Today is the last full day of George W. Bush’s presidency. While his presidency will be judged with greater clarity over time, he is leaving office as one of the lowest approval rates in the last 100 years. Over the last year and a half a growing number of Republicans have distanced themselves from him. Some Republicans are seeing him as their equivalent of the Democrat’s President Jimmy Carter.

The more hardcore Republicans and the Christian Right holds his presidency in positive regard because:
· The USA has not had another 9-11 like attack.
· He has taken the war on terror to the terrorists.
· He has removed Saddam Hussein from power.
· He imposed limits on stem-cell research.
· He appointed strong conservatives to the Supreme Court.

If one measured his presidency by the current state of the economy, the financial and housing crisis, the mood of the country, the unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as well as the international reputation of the USA, George W. Bush’s time in office has been an utter failure. I am of the view that history will judge President G. W. Bush and his presidency as amongst the lower third, and one the worst three of the last twenty-one Presidents (going back to Benjamin Harrison).

President Bush has left his successor with a host of complicated challenges that have rarely been left to a successor. In time, and with the revelation of documents that will be unsealed in the future, his presidency may be judged a little more positively but I doubt he will ever be viewed in the top half of American Presidents.