Grading George W. Bush

Since his election, Bush has been accused of almost everything, stealing the election, lying to Americans to get oil, being a terrorist, a fascist, and some even put him in the same ranks as Hitler. This is sheer boulderdash.

Let's start with the election. Bush won the election fair and square...several times in fact. Despite Al Gore's whiny attempts to recount his way to victory, Bush took the title that he earned. Many say that it wasn't so much the whole recount process as it was the fact that he lost the popular vote back in 2000. An interesting point but I also recall hearing Bob Scheiffer talk about how in an election as close as the 2000 one was, it was very possible for the popular vote winner to lose in the electoral college. This was met with an outcry, people started talking about changing the election process to eliminate it. Forget the fact that it has worked for the past 200+ years, we go through one election that doesn't go our way and we should take it upon ourselves to do a complete overhaul of our election process. This is horse poo. I'm a little shaky on my civics but if I recall correctly the electoral college was designed to ensure that the smaller less populated states still had a voice in the decision making process. That is why taking only the largest, most populated states does not grant a candidate victory. Giving the smaller states a voice was also the purpose of the Senate, but I digress. Even in 2004, when Bush beat Kerry in both the electoral and the popular vote, people still complained. They said that he was never elected. Newsflash folks, he was elected by you, not only was he elected by you, he was elected by you again.

From the get go he was met with resistance. Bush promised Americans a tax cut, and when he tried to follow through, people complained that it was only for the rich. In dollar figures, that is the case, however we have to remember that the rich also pay more in taxes so it would make sense for them to get more back through a cut. As for the middle to lower class families, you would think that anything that puts more money in their pocket would be well received, but people being the bizarre creatures that we are were not satisfied.

Another complaint regarding the President was that his policies were ruining the economy. It's true we did hit a recession early on. Ever since then, the liberals have used the "uncertain" economy as a tool to bash Bush. They ignore the fact that things have been gradually picking up for awhile now. The stock market climbed back up and the Dow is now at an all time high and I read an article that said the deficit has dropped significantly as of late.

There is of course the ignominious war in Iraq. I know, it's not going well. However, we need to remember two things. One, Bush did not lie; he acted on information that turned out to be faulty. This information was supported by intelligence from other countries saying the same thing, "Hussein has weapons of mass destruction". This was not something out of left field as Hussein is well known for picking fights. Bush Sr. had to go in during the Gulf War where we pwned him like it was nobody's business. Clinton lobbed a few missiles at him in an attempt to scare him away from continuing his programs. Bush says it and all of a sudden he's a liar and we were only going in for oil. The left cried this out for months, some still do in fact. We have yet to actually take any oil, but apparently that was why we went in.

Time passed and still no weapons, but there was a bright spot. We managed to get Hussein out of power and in custody where he was going to be tried as a war criminal. The right took advantage saying that's why we went in in the first place. The rhetoric changed from "imminent threat" to "he was a bad guy and needed to be taken out of power". It's true, Hussein was bad and did need to be ousted from power but the change in rhetoric was not well handled. It should have been more of a "He doesn't have weapons now, but we're going to make sure he doesn't get the chance to. Oh and since you guys were so good about us attacking you this whole time we're gonna hook you up with some freedom and liberty on us".

Meanwhile, things at home had also taken a downward turn. Bush wanted to alter social securtiy to set it up into personal accounts as opposed to the current system of everybody throwing their money in a pile and then scrambling to get as much from it as possible regardless of what you originally put in. It was said, he wanted to cut benefits. You would kind of have to, the reason why the program was losing money was because people were taking out more then they were putting in. This is not to say it was a matter of greed, but the reasons did not change the fact. This idea was, of course, stomped out.

Another obstacle was the illegal alien debate. Most agree that we need to secure the border but there were protests. In a bizarre twist, not only were the illegals protesting for their rights, but the legal aliens who were good enough to obey our laws and go through the process stepped up and vouched for them. Of course, people should be able to come to America to pursue their dream. But we can't just let everybody in. Aside from the inevitable population problem such a policy would cause, we are dealing with people who want to get in and blow us up. Precautions are necessary. It's naive to think that
we should just let everybody and anybody waltz in here without any documents or proof of identity. Beyond the naivete is an inane logic pitched by the left to give illegal aliens health benefits. Isn't this sending the wrong message? Shouldn't we be encouraging those who are doing things the right way instead of saying that our laws don't matter because they're an inconvenience to you?

Bush is by no means a great president. By that same token, he is not our worst president, far from it in fact. He has liberated two countries from oppressive regimes, given us all a nice tax cut, and managed to keep the economy stable. Mistakes have been made on his part, but he is doing what he believes is right, and what he thinks is best for the country. He is not a terrorist, he is not a fascist and he is certainly not in the same league as Hitler. People complain that he's taking our constitutional rights. I have yet to see anyone who was deprived of these rights under his presidency. Ok, airport security became more thorough, this is because we don't want another 9/11 to happen. Yes, taking off my shoes at the metal detector is a nuisance, but if it prevents some psycho from getting something on board that allows him to kill a bunch of people, I'll back it up. However, Mr. Bush, you are on your own regarding the whole "No liquids allowed on the plane". I have no idea where that one came from.



You can also read a Reviewstream I wrote here.