Bush’s Tainted Legacy
Had John McCain somehow won last night, we wouldn’t have this question to ask with such wonder. Bush would be known as a bad president, to be sure, but depending on the course that John McCain set, history might have had a fonder memory of our 43rd president. Alas for Mr. Bush, John McCain didn’t win. Even worse, he lost soundly. Barack Obama carried a huge number of states that Bush won in 2004. McCain, arguably a moderate with much different views than Bush, was another victim of Bush’s unpopularity (his recent approval ratings are as low as 20%, the worst ever recorded).
With what legacy is George Bush left? No major domestic or international success and lots of domestic and international disaster. He squandered any goodwill for the United States after 9/11. He supported deregulation to the point of financial collapse. He put millions into poverty. He failed to provide health insurance for children. He was a failed leader.
But it’s worse than that. Bush single-handedly destroyed the Republican party. First, he pandered to the party’s “base,” winning elections by the slimmest of margins (he couldn’t even win the popular vote in 2000) because of a few hardcore Evangelical Christians. This pushed other, more moderate voters out of the party and into Democratic arms. Second, he caused serious policy disasters. Bush lead us to illegal wars, deregulated with vigor causing collapse in industries as wide ranging as banks and energy companies, and failed to be the compassionate conservative he promised in 2000. Third, he failed to anticipate that Americans might like progress. He stood content to keep us in the dark ages, discouraging advances in science and technology. He refused to invest in America’s future.
I don’t know how much Bush is sitting back and thinking about the disaster he caused. But the historical significance had got to weigh on him. In 1994, Republicans gained control of the Senate and the House. It was a significant victory. It only took 12 years, and one awful president, for the Republicans to lose those majorities, and lose them seriously. They sit 16+ seats behind in the Senate and 80+ seats behind in the House. And it was Bush that lead McCain to lose.
In 2004, Bush was driven to win because he didn’t want to go out after just one term and be like his father. He met that goal, but then left us wishing he was more like his dad. Bush will not go down in history as an ineffective president (as his father did). He will go down as the worst president ever. The election of Barack Obama proved it – Americans went hard for change. The worst part for Bush is that it’s a sea change: nothing will be the same after George Bush, and he shouldn’t be proud of that legacy.
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