While I’m sure there will be many electrons spilled answering this question, I will add my own to the mix. The last eight years of the US government has been… interesting. I’ve thought on this a bit, and there are several ways one could go with this recap. I think I’ll go with this as my theme word:
Discombobulated
Yes, that’s right. Discombobulated. That’s the theme I will append to President Bush’s legacy. Here’s how I see it.
- 9/11 – Beyond his control. Less than a year into his presidency and this changes everything. Education reform? Backburner. Healthcare reform? Maybe tomorrow. Fiscal reform? First things first. President Bush never really had the chance to try and execute his gameplan. He was down nil – 3 within minutes of the opening whistle.
- “Mission Accomplished” – OK, that was just boneheaded. Baghdad had fallen, true; but that wasn’t the mission was it? I thought it was Bin Laden who was behind 9/11, not Hussein. And the destruction of something is only the beginning. A life, which takes nine months to be born can be ended in a second. The real work is in creating. To his credit, President Bush has pretty much admitted that this was premature at least.
- Hurricane Katrina – Come on now. Seriously? First terrorists and now the nature’s wrath? I can only imagine the conversation in his head went some thing like this: “OK, GW, lets put it together. Iraq is turning into a bit of a debacle, but it’s not yet beyond us. We’ve still got nearly four years. Let’s just put aside distract — WTF!!! You’ve got to be kidding me!” Unfortunately the response was about as well coordinated and planned as the post-invasion effort in Iraq.
- The Financial Meltdown – The experts are still weighing in on the causes, but I don’t think anyone can credibly lay this at President Bush’s feet. This ball started rolling many years before him. He likely gave the whole thing an extra push, and that only made the inevitable fall that much more harsh, but even his push was only one of many. Where was Congress? Where was the market’s “Invisible Hand?” It’s unfair that he will likely go down in history as the one responsible for the whole thing.
Bottom line: Do I think he was a good President? Not particularly. I don’t think he was able to marshall effective reponses to the unquestionably large challenges that were thrown at him. I think they knocked him for a loop and he never regained the plot. I don’t fault him for effort, but the results left much to be desired. I don’t think we’ll ever know who George W. Bush wanted to be as President, and we can only speculate about how Kerry or Dole or Gore or anyone else would have faired in his shoes.
