I was thinking a lot about how the President gets the blame for everything that goes wrong in the world. While in Mississippi with my National Guard unit I was amazed that so much of the failure of the relief effort was directed at the Bush administration. I'm a Democrat so I don't really support Bush wholeheartedly but how was it his fault that the levies broke in New Orleans? Sure Homeland Security dropped the ball and some of the blame for that has to be laid at the feet of the Bush Administration. But come on, it was a natural disaster, no one is ever really ready for that.

Bush has been criticized for the invasion of Iraq but it's important that we have a strong military presence in the Middle East. I don't like the way he alienated the NATO Alliance but someone had to do something to help stabilize the region. There is also considerable debate and legal action being taken over domestic spying and while I feel they should obtain a warrant, there is a need for this.

George Bush made a promise during the debate with Al Gore that he would restore character to the office of the President. When I heard this the first thing that popped into my mind was Executive Privilege. We have seen how he used it in at least two major crisis (911 and Iraq), did he keep his promise or not:

Question for debate:

How will history remember the Bush Administration and what is his legacy to American governance?

Follow up question:

What do you feel personally were the best and worst things done by the Bush Administration?

The obvious answer to the first question is that it is much too early to tell. (Heck, you could have a heated debate on the legacy of FDR, and maybe even Lincoln.) With that in mind, a few things seem pretty obvious to me. First of all, he is the most conservative President since Ronald Reagan, and possibly a bit more so than RR, in almost all ways except for spending. The reason I say this is that the current administration has combined two very different branches of the modern American conservative movement into a powerful force. These are the cultural conservatives and the foreign policy hawks. It seems to me that a case could be made that the current President is the first to hold that office who could be called both a Fundamentalist and a Neo-Conservative. If not the man himself, than at least his policies fit that description. That, combined with the fact that he has had the chance to nominate at least two solidly conservative Justices to the Supreme Court, make it seem likely that his legacy will be best described as yet another hard shift to the Right by the American government.

It's no secret that I am no fan of the current President (and I once thought, way back last century, that he was just another moderate Republican like his father), so it's hard for me to pick a "best" and "worst" for the current administration. With that proviso, I'll do the best I can.

Best: Taking a softer stand on immigration than some other conservatives.

Worst: The War in Iraq, because of the way it has caused worsening relations with other nations, and because of the questionable actions taken in the name of the War on Terror.

I think he may very well be viewed as the worst president of modern times- certainly the worst since nixon- hard racket to beat there- except, wait- Nixon was competent. Okay, worst since Grant- well shoot, at least he [I]was a genuine war hero- contributed to the country in some positive way, despite the massive corruption

Worse than Reagan, who at least didn't call out as the personal arbiter of Jesus, and somewhat preached about goverment limits

So perhaps GW is the worst president in US history- just from just being bad at being president- to as greasy as Bill Clinton.

As greasy and situationally immoral as bill Clinton.

Corrupt an administration as Nixon.

Inept as Jimmy Carter.

Anti-poor and as out of touch with reality as Reagan.


Yep, pretty early to tell, but my vote is (in best comic book guy Simpson character voice)

"worst president in US history[B]

How will history remember the Bush Administration and what is his legacy to American governance?

I guess it depends on who is writing the history. On the surface, he'll likely be remembered as the president who botched the post-9/11 surge of unity by invading Iraq. Digging in deeper, he might be seen as the maverick president who grabbed as much power as he could despite protocols, priorities, common sense, and uncommon sense. Since there are still about three years left of his administration, all sorts of things could end up defining his presidency, but so far this is what it looks like.

It's a for sure that he'll be remembered as a minority president in the 2000 election, which is an easy year to remember. The 2004 election might be remembered as the one that brought electronic voting fraud into at least analysts' views if not the public's. Still waiting on the 2006 situation, aren't we.

What he does once out of power is probably moot. I don't see him as being very ambitious, so he'll probably ride into the Texan sunset never to be heard from again.

Symbolically, he might be remembered as the president who liked to flip the bird and the one with the VP who liked to use the F word on the Senate floor. I'm pretty sure that defending the US from terrorist attack won't hold, being as he is also defending the US from a Mars attack, an attack from Venus, and of course the Darwinian Monkey Men from Alpha Centauri.

He won't be remembered for oratory. Too much archived film footage.

Domestic policy looks to be a lost cause. Tax cuts? Nope, that won't make it and Reagan has that slot already. Can't have two tax cutting wranglers so close together. Let's see, Nixon opened up trade relations with China, and Wall*Mart thanks him very much. Reagan traded guns for hostages and set up Saddam, plus that little S. American adventure. Bush I had his Gulf War, Clinton had his impeachment and the Internet bubble, Bush II has . . .

Iraq. That's about it.