Poll: The Final Verdict on George W. Bush?s Presidency?

anti_strunt

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What with Obama finally being sworn in, I thought it would be appropriate to look back upon our departing President, George W. Bush, and the legacy he will leave to history: how do you think future generations will judge his two terms?

This is not a troll, or a bashing thread - I've actually tried to some work into representing different opinions in the available options, and I sincerely hope to inspire debate. Please, I implore you; don't get this thread closed by starting a foolish political flame war...

As for the poll itself, please note that I fully realise that some of the above answers overlap: if I could allow you to vote for more than one option, I would. However, poll mechanics being what they are, I tried to cover a wide spectrum of opinions, rather than a single "Did he suck; yes/no?" Hopefully you can identify with one of the options above, elsewise I ask you to make use of the "Other" option, as I put it there for just that reason.

EDIT: Just one thing, if you voted "Other" and want to specificy what you ment, please write "Voted: Other" or somesuch in your post to distinguish it from the general discussion!

As for the options:

Quite good, actually
With the limited number of options available, there is unfortunately no "Best President" option; I hope no offense is taken. Never the less, if you think Bush is unfairly diminished, this is your option.

An average President, no more, no less
Not as bad as many make him out to be, but nothing special.

A President with good intentions, overtaken by events
A President with good intentions, misled by his advisors

These two are similar, but subtly different: both cases assume that Bush had the capacity to be a good President, but that he was undone either by events beyond his control (9/11, Katrina etc.); or by his political advisors, hawkish war-mongers or dishonest NeoCon ideologues.

He will go down in history, but for the wrong reasons
His Presidency will not be soon forgotten, and his name will become something of a byword. But not, alas, for success...

The President that single-handedly ended the "American Century"
Just what it says, flowery language and all: will George W. Bush be seen by history as the president who brought a century of indisputable American dominance to a close, more or less on his own - the president after whom American power and influence waned, as other powers grew to supplant it?

The worst President in US history
Simple enough, if you happen to hold that opinion...
 

Lord Beautiful

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Aug 13, 2008
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I think he was actually a decent President with good intentions. There are some things he did that I don't agree with, but he's certainly not the worst President this country has seen.
 

s0denone

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Apr 25, 2008
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"He will go down in history, but for the wrong reasons
His Presidency will not be soon forgotten, and his name will become something of a byword. But not, alas, for success..."

This pretty much sums up George Walker Bush Jr. to me. However good intentions he did or did not have, he will be remembered for all the wrong things, and if the crisis keeps getting worse, he will become known for driving the U.S.A into ruin; If not the whole world market.
 

fluffylandmine

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Jul 23, 2008
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He had the best of intentions but his advisers were not by any means the best and the world seemed to be crumbling around him(economy, 9/11, Katrina, etc.).

I feel sorry for him, even if he was not perfect by any means(that's for sure), the way he was treat was a tad bit disgraceful(I mean he is still a human being).

EDIT: @ s0deone- The real problem behind the collapse is that we(everyone and the 'big inhumane businesses') were getting too greedy too fast. Greed has done some good in getting us where we are(we needed some kind of drive), but we let it get out of hand.

Soon it was status quo to be buying unnecessary and frivolous things that could not be afforded. And so here we are paying the piper and struggling out of the rut.

He is not the offender, but he is not innocent.
 

Evilbunny

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Feb 23, 2008
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I am not of the opinion that the age of American dominance is over but I think History will judge him as the president that let the country get to one of its worst positions it's been in since the great depression.
 

kdragon1010

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Jan 17, 2009
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Pentagon war mongers...that's kind of why the military exsits is to...wage....war. The guys in charge there don't make policy and decide where to go and when. Its essentially a giant think-tank.
 

anti_strunt

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Aug 26, 2008
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kdragon1010 said:
Pentagon war mongers...that's kind of why the military exsits is to...wage....war. The guys in charge there don't make policy and decide where to go and when. Its essentially a giant think-tank.
Well, I suppose the "Pentagon" could be removed; it wasn't a value statement as such, just an example of people misleading him (in this case into invading Iraq, thus the mongering of war, perhaps against better jugdement).
 

s0denone

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fluffylandmine said:
He had the best of intentions but his advisors were not by any means the best and the world seemed to be crumbling around him(economy, 9/11, katrina, etc.).

I feel sorry for him, even if he was not perfect by any means(that's for sure), the way he was treat was a tad bit disgraceful(I mean he is still a human being).
It's 9/11's fault that he got his second period.
If not for all the misínformed "Axis of Evil" thing aswell as the "War for Freedom" and "War on Terror" campaigns, he wouldn't have been elected again.
 

Fronken

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May 10, 2008
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A President with good intentions, overtaken by events.

That gets my vote, i think he had potential, but certain events lead him astray, causing him to make some dumb choices (Iraq war for example), but still, he did start out with potential for greatness.
 

Gamer137

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Jun 7, 2008
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I am pretty sure he had good intentions. I don't think he exactly wanted to put the country this deep into troubles. He ain't the worst, that's Andrew Johnson from what I hear. I only really had problems with how much he tried to limit our freedoms for the sake of terrorism, but it may have been his advisors. Who knows.
 

Damien the Pigeon

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Oct 23, 2008
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Bush's problem was that he was arrogant. He couldn't even admit that he was wrong, so he made terrible decisions just to convince himself that he was correct.
 

AboveUp

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May 21, 2008
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He will go down in history, but for the wrong reasons

People don't go into history based on the intentions they had, or for what they've done. They'll go into history based on how people see them.
 

pantsoffdanceoff

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Jun 14, 2008
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He was a horrible president, the worst. The job of a President is to represent the people of America and considering his approval rating was at 30% he obviously failed to do that. Nixon didn't even get that low. History will view him as another Hoover.
 

anti_strunt

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Aug 26, 2008
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Just one thing, if you voted "Other" and want to specificy what you ment, please write "Voted: Other" or somesuch in your post to distinguish it from the general discussion!
 

Blind0bserver

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Mar 31, 2008
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He was actually a decent president, but his overall reputation in the eyes of the public had been systematically destroyed by his political opponents since he took office. It'll probably stay that way through Obama's first term and then beyond that. Much was the case with Reagan, it might be a few years until people can truly appreciate what he did.
 

kdragon1010

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Jan 17, 2009
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hey anti_strunt,

If he truely believed Iraq (Sadam) had WMD's as was the initial reason given for going in there its the job of CIA and NSA to get intel like that. Now if he had initially said: "We're going to go into Iraq to remove a mass murdering evil dictator from power" I wouldn't have had as much a problem with it. As it was I felt betrayed by all the departments of the Federal Government that is supposed to make sure we send our men and women into harm's way for the right reasons.
 

Samurai Goomba

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pantsoffdanceoff said:
He was a horrible president, the worst. The job of a President is to represent the people of America and considering his approval rating was at 30% he obviously failed to do that. Nixon didn't even get that low. History will view him as another Hoover.
Hoover didn't cause the Depression, you know. He just took office as the Depression started happening.

From what I know of history, Warren G. Harding was the worst President. He hired all his friends into office, who promptly started stealing and abused their authority for their own petty gain.

As far as Bush goes, good intentions, overtaken by events. That gets my vote. A lot of things happened under his Presidency (things out of his control) that few Presidents before him have had to face, such as the destruction of the Twin Towers and Hurricane Katrina. I'm not saying those things didn't help him get re-elected, but I sure wouldn't have known what to do.
 

fluffylandmine

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Jul 23, 2008
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Gamer137 said:
I am pretty sure he had good intentions. I don't think he exactly wanted to put the country this deep into troubles. He ain't the worst, that's Andrew Johnson from what I hear. I only really had problems with how much he tried to limit our freedoms for the sake of terrorism, but it may have been his advisors. Who knows.
I will actually defend Johnson.

It wasn't that he was bad per-say but congress was holding a grudge against him for continuing Lincolns ideas for entry into reconstruction(Post Civil war South politics and what-not).

They did not like that one bit. So soon laws were passed to limit his power and soon every veto he laid out was overturned. He fought back, and congress finally decided "Why not end this annoyance in our agenda?" and impeached him.
 

Trivun

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Dec 13, 2008
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As a British guy I am unbiased, but looked at you Americans during Bush's terms in office, and wanted Obama to win the last election (hooray!). I can say that I feel Bush was a bit of an idiot and did make the wrong decisions, but he wasn't a bad person. He was a bad President for you to suffer, but he was well-intentioned (but just a bit of a twat).

anti_strunt said:
The President that single-handedly ended the "American Century"
Just what it says, flowery language and all: will George W. Bush be seen by history as the president who brought a century of indisputable American dominance to a close, more or less on his own - the president after whom American power and influence waned, as other powers grew to supplant it?
However, I can't help but disagree with the above comment. American dominance? Excuse me, not to cause offence but this is silly. The USA is not the most dominant country and never was. No country or citizen of a country can claim dominance in world affairs. I feel that the USA forgets its heritage given it was only given life by colonists from Europe, in particular France and the UK. Too many times I see Americans basically act big-headed as they go on about how America is the most important and dominant country in the world and that they are the greatest. I'm sorry, but you're not. I'm not saying Britain is best (with our government it definitely isn't), but I would like to see an end to American arrogance and thinking the world bows before you, especially when people say that the US President is the single most important person in the whole world.