Bush Legacy

I think history will treat President George W. Bush better than the current media and the general public. The democrats believe that W. was illegitimately put into the office of the Presidency. This was something the democrats never got over and spent the entire eight years of his presidency constantly criticizing and degrading the President driving his approval rating to a low almost as low the Democratic Congress. Very few reputations could withstand the negative bombardment this president had to endure.

At President Bush's final White House press conference he admitted mistakes were made but I believe more good came out of his years than bad but the current liberal media would not let Americans believe it. I want to examine all the good that came out of the George W. Bush White House.

- No discussion about W.'s Presidency could exclude 9/11 and what happened afterwards. The terrorist attacks and the President's response united this country like they have not been united in a generation. His response was compassionate for the victims and their families yet resolved towards the perpetrators. The United States of America was actually united.

- The war in Iraq was what it was and I am not going to debate the decision but I will make a few points. At the time, both democrats and republicans supported the decisions so to blame the President for the decisions is an attempt to rewrite history. This is just about as dishonest as boasting your decision making ability for not supporting the war when you had no vote on the issue as our future President. I compare this to criticizing a referee from the stands. Its a different story when the decision has consequences.

- No matter how you felt about the war, the decision to support the surge was correct. With casualties mounting and no end in sight, the war became very unpopular until the President supported a very unpopular strategy of actually increasing troops in Iraq to secure the region. It worked!

- Global warming has become the popular cause of the 21st century yet President Bush had the courage to leave the Kyoto treaty when it would have caused damage to the U.S. economy. The treaty was a disaster, with China and India exempt, it would have caused even more economic hardship for the U.S.

- George W. Bush rebuilt the authority of the presidency by conducting wireless surveillance of terrorists. Although the democrats would never admit that this was needed for fear of validating an achievement of the President, it has proved to be an invaluable tool in fighting terrorism.

- Appointing Judge Alito and Judge Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court has secured a conservative court. A conservative court interprets the constitution when making its decisions and does not believe that the court should interpret what the constitution's intent would be with the changing times. The constitution is a timeless document and interpretation does not need "adjusting" over time. Both of these judges are relatively young making it more than likely they will serve on the court for decades.

Most of the President's successes has made made the country safer. The times are changing and the enemy is different so our tactics to combat the enemy must change. With the resistance of the media, the democrats and ultimately the American public, the President stood on his principles and has made the U.S. a much safer place. The proof is in the pudding and, although we were told another terrorist attack is inevitable, there have been no more terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11.

The President admitted he made mistakes, but what were these decisions.

- One of these most blaring mistakes was an attempt to buy votes with his Medicare prescription drug benefit. Some think this was one of his successes but I think it was a mistake. It became just another social program but not even a very good one. It took away the free market aspect of the drug purchase. All of a sudden the government is a major buyer of prescription drugs yet they were not allowed to negotiate prices. And as I feel about most social programs, Americans become more dependent upon the government and it just gives the government more power.

- The media and democrats have told us the President mismanaged the war but what does that mean? I am not going to Monday morning quarterback every decision made during the war. No war was ever managed perfectly. The enemy never acts exactly as expected and they change tactics so no war is ever perfect. What the President did wrong in Iraq had to do with the reconstruction. Only American companies were permitted to help rebuild the country. A coalition of countries participated in the combat operations in Iraq but when it came to the profitable part of the mission, rebuilding, only American countries were allowed to bid on the work. This caused a the coalition to dissolve and made the war about U.S. vs. the Middle East. It took away the moral authority.

- The missing veto was a major mistake in W.'s presidency. The GOP claims to be the party of physical conservatism yet he did nothing to curve spending. The bills put on the President's were loaded with pork but he never vetoed a bill, not one. He should have sent many of the bills back to congress to clean them up yet it never happened. Even the bailout bill was loaded with pork.

- The President also possessed a management style that just helped feed the the media's frenzy of criticism. Other than the vote for the war, the President was rarely able to get the democrats to share in the decision making process also allowing them to share in blame and effectively disarming their attacks. President Bush stated after being reelected that he had earned some political capital and was now going to spend it. This attitude made it even harder for democrats to support him.

- Failing to address reform of the social security system and/or the health care system was a mistake in two parts. First, reform is needed and he had the chance to really accomplish some real change but never did. During his first term he even had a republican controlled Congress but did nothing. Secondly, it left the issues to be solved by the new President with his democratically controlled congress and we know how they will attempt to solve this problem, with more government.

- Failure to secure the border has also proved to be a weakness of President Bush. With his commitment to the nation's security I am very surprised he did not make more of an effort to secure our borders.

As I stated earlier, I believe history will judge President George W. Bush much more fair than today's media. Although not a perfect presidency I think he did more good than bad. The number one job of the President is to keep Americans safe and since 9/11 he has made lot of good decisions that have kept Americans free from any more terrorists attacks. One thing that has always impressed me and probably infuriated his detractors is his steadfast commitment to his ideals. He has always been committed to promoting democracy throughout the world at the expense of his personal reputation.