Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Only slightly. He still ranks around #36. One thing Ill give him credit for is not spending his time all day on talk shows talking down the current president. He has a unique view of how hard the job is.
The democrats screwed themselves. They could not vote against Bush's request to go to war with Saddam's Iraq, because for the past 8 years, they made speech after speech about the evil, dangerous Saddam, and his WMDs, and justified numerous military attacks under Clinton.
The Democrats rolled over because it would have been very costly to them politically had they not. Back in 2002, people were screaming for blood. They were like a mob who wanted to lynch someone -- any n****** would do. Bush fed this fire. If the Democrats stood up and shouted NO! the mob would have turned against them. In 2012, though, they would be remembered as the sensible people who refused to let incited and inflamed passions dictate national policy. Too bad they didn't act justly. Now, I remember them as the cowards who went along to get along with policies they knew were destructive and stupid.
No. Probably the worst President in history. His decisions and leadership have had a massive impact on economic growth, US standing and influence in the world, debt, mobility and who's spending has done nothing to benefit average working class American's. Total and utter colossal failure on any empirical measure.
My sentiments exactly.
Although I should say that both Bush and Obama seem like good but maybe naive guys. It is their puppeteers that I loathe.
I think there were a lot of people in 2008 with the general opinion that W was one of the worst presidents in our history. It helped contribute to Obama's election.
At the time W himself stated that history will judge him differently as the results of his policies would be seen only after he left office.
So has anyone's opinion of him changed and why?
I wasn't particularly a huge fan of his. I've read his book Decision Points and while I am sure it was meant to put him in a positive light, some of his contributions seemed very beneficial to the country, to minorities, and other groups. They just were overshadowed by Iraq and 9-11.
I don't know how good or bad of a president he was because no president gets the same test. I think he was one of the worst presidents in recent memory when it came to public speaking. However, a president is like a manager and you don't really need to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but rather, get people to work for you and advise you that are the sharpest knives in the drawer.
Most Presidents have had legal backgrounds as areas of knowledge. They are not well versed on economics, foreign affairs, the environment and the vast majority of issues that Presidents have to make decisions on. Thus, they appoint people who are experts to help them make decisions. However, as I said before, no President gets the same test so its hard to say who was good or bad. Its kind of like a teacher. If a lot of students do not do well in a teachers class is it because the person is a bad teacher or is it because the kids had so many challenges outside the classroom that impacted their performance in the classroom? A President is the same.
911 and Katrina were two major national crisis events that no recent President has had to deal with. Hind site is 20/20 but we don't know what others would have done if they were President and those events unfolded. True, some may have chose different actions.....but would the results in the long run have been any better? Know one knows. However, the fact that someone fails is not evidence that someone else would have been successful.....by default.
I was never fan or critic of Bush....or for that matter Obama. I think Presidents are puppets.....like most politicians....and the masses are not controlling the strings.
lol... Jenna seems like a nice girl. She's probably a hoot to hang with -- now that she's a decade older, she has probably settled down quite a bit too. So long as she never decides to run for president at the behest of a corrupt ring of looters like Cheney, Rumsfeld and Co., she's alright in my book.
I think the fighting the wrong war and negligence regarding economic oversight will impact us in a negative fashion for the rest of our lives. The Federal Government failed in the two most important roles which a government has as a reason for existence- ensuring economic wellbeing of the state and conducting warfare. For this, my opinion of GWB will always be that he was a failure.
I voted for him in 2000 and believed in him through the occupation of Iraq. Confidence eroded as the years went and it became obvious there was no reason to invade Iraq and our actual enemy-Al Qaeda, was still operational. This is not like the early 1940s where our military was stinted and intelligence gathering non-existent. We spend considerably in both and both failed and there were no consequences. I find this intolerable. Then late 2007 began the economic downturn which arrived in full force in 2008 to find the causes were due to negligence and lack of foresight by those who are in place to steer the economy. Considering the amount of money we invest in data gathering and analysis at the Federal level, it is shameful no one took any proactive action or established safeguards or revisited existing policy. Even if the actual economic reasons extend prior to the Bush administration...he was in command and had the position and opportunity to give instructions for research to be made and the results brought to the appropriate committees for proactive action.
We are discussing basic organization leadership and management aspects not some extraordinary accomplishment. It is the type of work which is done by private business companies all the time to succeed. Reinforce success and terminate failures. Constantly research external conditions and self-examine internally to ensure one is current and not losing their edge vs. others. I should also add to eliminate inefficient internal practices and investigate corruption.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My sentiments exactly. 
Has anyone's opinion of George W Bush changed since he left office?
