Was President Bush A Good President?
As our country continues to be gripped by a financial crisis that began sweeping the world all the way back in 1997, fingers are being pointed in order to lay blame. Even though the situation we find ourselves in now was both politically and economically motivated, nobody seems to want to take actual responsibility for their contribution to the mess. Instead, people and politicians seem to want to crucify only one person as the cause of all the hardships our society is currently trying to overcome. All the finger-pointing and blame has come to roost on the 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush.
The evidence used to explain why he is a bad president seems to be backed up with the fear quotient more than actual facts. He is the village idiot, Cheney was really in charge, the party enriched itself through him… all of these are supposed to be valid reasons by which one can say that he was a bad president. People have conveniently forgotten that George W. Bush, through no fault of his own, became a wartime president of the country. As such, he was prone to make missteps and making questionable yet valid decisions in the name of protecting his country and fellowman.
Let me take you back to that fateful day of September 11, 2000. When the most violent terrorist attack ever to happen took down the lives of countless Americans and international citizens when the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon happened. Nobody has a clue as to how to deal with the situation, everybody looked to the president for leadership and calm. Something that Bush tried to transmit to the people while he dealt with the most tragic attack on the US since Pearl Harbor.
Through his actions on that very day and the succeeding days, he managed to protect not only America but the rest of the world as well, from terrorist attacks. Admittedly, some of his methods were questionable, but then during a time of war, nobody has the luxury of time.
Andrew Roberts of The Telegraph, a British newspaper presents insurmountable evidence that supports the claim that George W. Bush was a good American president. His most compelling evidence being that:
The decisions taken by Mr. Bush in the immediate aftermath of that ghastly moment will be pored over by historians for the rest of our lifetimes. One thing they will doubtless conclude is that the measures he took to lock down America’s borders, scrutinize travelers to and from the United States, eavesdrops upon terrorist suspects, works closely with international intelligence agencies and takes the war to the enemy has foiled dozens, perhaps scores of would-be murderous attacks on America. There are Americans alive today who would not be if it had not been for the passing of the Patriot Act. There are 3,000 people who would have died in the August 2005 airline conspiracy if it had not been for the superb inter-agency cooperation demanded by Bush after 9/11.
I would like to further add that although fumbles were made in the war in Iraq, President Bush was right on the marker 3 out of 4 times. There were mass human graves found, there was evidence of torture chambers, and it was proven that the food for oil program was abused in Iraq.
Historians may argue that Bush lost sight of his main goal, that of getting Osama Bin Laden. On the contrary, I think his capture and subsequent trial and sentencing of Hussein through combined US and Iraqi forces deliver a strong message to Bin Laden. You can run, you can hide, but we will get you in the end.
Will President Obama Be An Improvement Over Bush?
President Bush left the USA with an almost negative approval rating from the American public due to the missteps he took while in office. President Barack Obama on the other hand came into office with a 67 % approval rating, the highest rating for any incoming president on record. Does this mean that he will be an improvement over George W. Bush? Since President Obama has been incumbent for less than 3 months, I really think that it is too soon to tell if he is an improvement over his predecessor. He has done a good job so far and managed to avoid any major mistakes. However, his choice of cabinet members and slow response time to address the feelings of the public, such as the anger over the AIG bonuses, makes me wonder why this glib and charismatic campaigner seems to have lost his touch when it comes to informing the people of his government’s sentiments and courses of action. The swagger in his walk means nothing when we continue to face hard times ahead and he advocates as much government spending and money printing as possible in order to deal with the situation.
Let us just say that people would have voted any Republican into office after 8 years of Republican rule. After all, Democrats are known as good visualizers and we had a budget that needed tweaking. Something that I do not currently see happening under President Obama. He has been given unprecedented support and a chance of a lifetime by making US election history, I can only hope that he does not squander it by making bad choices and decisions that would make Bush seem like a misjudged president. So far, all he has done to show that he would make a better president, was to overturn a number of decisions made during the Bush administration. Such as closing Gitmo. A decision that I fear is rash and uncalled for especially since he has no alternative scenarios to present except to return the suspected terrorists to their mother country. An act that could cost countless American and international lives again in the future as it has been proven that those released from Gitmo more often than not get recruited and assigned to top-ranking terrorist organization positions.
In A Hundred Years, Which Of These Presidents Will History Look More Favorably Upon?
In the end, history will be the judge as to who was the better American president. Like I mentioned earlier, history will view President Obama in a historic light since he is the first Black US President. But that does not mean that all his future decisions shall be viewed and judged with favor by history. It is too soon to tell within his presidency as to what kind of actual leader he will be. Is he an effective leader or merely a campaigner? Is he really making these political decisions on his own? Or is there a whole political party making presidential decisions for him? Was he voted into office only using charm and wit? Was it right to take a chance on him? It is all too soon to tell. The jury is still awaiting evidence as to how effective his presidency will be before passing judgment.
As for George W. Bush, history has already, in my opinion, cast him into the light of a misunderstood US president. In our country that is currently populated by instant gratification and commercialism, people have lost track of the fact that he was the first president since President Truman decided to bomb Japan in order to end the war in the Asia Pacific, who needed to put the security and welfare of his country above any other aspect of his political rule. George W. Bush will, in the course of historical study, be proven to have protected not only the nation but the world, through his course of actions. Something that will have historians debating his presidential era for many decades to come.
References / Bibliography
- “Bush’s Long Time Aides Predict History Will Judge Him More Favorably”. USA Today. 2009. Web.
- “Deciders in Chief: Some Are Better Than The Others”. MSNBC. 2009.
- “Hot Docs: Global Optimism Over President Obama; Women And Cute Babies”. U.S. News. 2009. Web.
- “Obama Sees Many Florida Issues Different From Bush”. News 4 Ajax. 2009.