The George W Bush Presidency in Review
Posted on 03 June 2008 by Michael Callaway
I know that George Bush’s popularity is probably one of the lowest of any sitting President and has been under a lot of scrutiny recently with the book written by Judas Iscariot, um, I mean Scott McClellan. Many will point to this and say, “George Bush is the worst President this country has seen in a long time, maybe ever.”
While I understand the sentiment, I do not think that is really evidence enough. High popularity should not be seen as a sign that a person is a good leader, Stalin and Putin had approval ratings through the roof and they were bad people. Others like John Adams and Harry Truman left the white house beaten and bruised only later to be remembered for the great leaders they really were.
There are some Presidents that you know right away what their legacy will be, Presidents such as Reagan, Kennedy, FDR and Teddy Roosevelt, these men were going to be remembered as greats and everyone knew it. George Bush will not be in this category, I think it will be impossible to fairly judge President Bush until at earliest 2012 and probably not until 2018. So much of the Bush legacy will be tied into what unfolds in the Middle East in the next ten to twenty years.
If a free and democratic Iraq and Afghanistan begin to change the course of East/West relations then it is possible that Bush could be seen as one of the greatest Presidents of our time. Historians will say that while the people were against him and while everyone under estimated him, he stood by his principals in the face of unrelenting opposition and freed a region.
Of course, if Iraq turns into South Vietnam and we have another “Miss Saigon” moment with the embassy being evacuated because extremist have taken over the country, then he will be seen as one of the worst. Historians will say that despite obvious warning signs and overwhelming evidence, he was stubborn and would not change; his actions caused a region more pain and suffering.
George Bush will be an important figure in history that is for sure, there is no chance that he will be a Millard Fillmore or William Harrison. History will be the jury and I think it will be in session for a long time.
Popularity: 3% [?]
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Do you honestly think that Stalin’s “approval rating” was legitimate? Had I lived in the Soviet Union during his reign, you can be sure that I’d publicly approve of him, regardless of what I thought personally. To do otherwise was suicide.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Yeah, I am VERY curious to see how history regards GW. I fear that his handling of the War in Iraq will be the least of his troubles. Stockpiling oil for the military, allowing Homeland Security to violate the privacy of the individual citizen, and creating overflow camps for future masses of illegal aliens are just three of the many decisions that I believe will come back to haunt us all.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 pm
The Stalin example is a real example. The people of the USSR loved Stalin. Many of them believed that Stalin had no idea of all the bad things that were going on. In fact one guy wrote a letter to Stalin to “inform” him of what was going on not knowing it was Stalin himself who had signed his own death warrent.
A friend of mine from Russia said that many older people still have a hard time believing that Stalin was a bad man.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:35 pm
To Daniel’s point, the US government has had a stockpile of oil since the 1970’s in the event of another Arab imbargo. I have no problem with this and think it is the right thing to do.