George W Bush

[°Leprechaun]

I can't think of a president as bad as him so I'll go with 6.

[MODU]

I still Approve.  Congress on the other hand...

[°Leprechaun]

I still Approve.  Congress on the other hand...

What do you like about him?

[KEmperor]

Your 6th choice is out of order from the rest of the list.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Option 3 -- His Iraq War is certainly very bad, but his character is very likeable and personable seems like, so that brings him up out of my cellar.  Can't fault the man for sticking to his beliefs, however misguided they may be.

[Sam Spade]

Mildly disapprove at present, which puts me at somewhere between 2 and 3, probably closer to 2 at present.

[MODU]

I still Approve.  Congress on the other hand...

What do you like about him?

What are you looking for?  Policies or Personal Characteristics?

[WalterMitty]

approve.

it is hard not to approve of him compared to the congress.  timetable for withdrawl?  what nonsense.  no way to fight a war, that is for sure.

and you all call bush dumb. 

[Reaganfan]

approve.

it is hard not to approve of him compared to the congress.  timetable for withdrawl?  what nonsense.  no way to fight a war, that is for sure.

and you all call bush dumb. 

Democrats don't know foreign policy like Republicans do.

[WalterMitty]

approve.

it is hard not to approve of him compared to the congress.  timetable for withdrawl?  what nonsense.  no way to fight a war, that is for sure.

and you all call bush dumb. 

Democrats don't know foreign policy like Republicans do.

democrats (and chuck hagel) want to shape foreign policy and national security around public opinion.

any democrat that acts like a grown up (ie lieberman) the lefties demonize.   OMFG DINO WARMONGER!!!111

[Dr. Cynic]

I don't think him to be the worst President of all time... I still don't like him.

[cp]

approve.

it is hard not to approve of him compared to the congress.  timetable for withdrawl?  what nonsense.  no way to fight a war, that is for sure.

and you all call bush dumb. 

Democrats don't know foreign policy like Republicans do.

Say what now? Republican foreign policy in the past 10 years is broaching on disaster.

They resisted the successful interventions of the Clinton Administration and pushed for the catastrophic interventions of Bush II.

They allowed an increasingly incompetant administration to go unchecked for years while the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan worsened.

They ignored brewing international problems like Darfur, nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea, and in the process, alienated or weakened every ally available (who, btw, were in lockstep with Bush II after September 11 - along with a pretty impressive list of non-allies).

Republican management of foreign policy in this decade has been abysmal. The Democrats have shown themselves to be rather prudent, considering public opinion and the worsening situations abroad.

[CPT MikeyMike]

Option 3.5 - Fall between Neutral and Support

Neutral on his economic spending.

Support on the troop surge and in general the War on Terror.

[GOP = Terrorists]

Theocratic Terrorist on the same level as Osama Bin Laden.  Worst of all time by far.

[Wakie]

Strongly disapprove.  I wouldn't call him the worst President of all time but he's in the bottom 5.  IMO, he's been a failure in all respects.

Foreign Policy -- He squandered the greatest international support we've had in decades to invade a country on shoddy intel.  North Korea got nukes.  The world's most wanted terrorist attacked us 6 years ago and is still on the loose.  We are in a military quagmire.  And Iran is pushing towards getting nukes.

Domestic Policy -- His party had Congress and the Supreme Court for the majority of his 2 terms in office and he advanced none of his stated agenda.

Fiscal Policy -- When he came into office we had a massive budget surplus and the economy was going like gangubsters.  Now it is puttering along and the deficit is skyrocketing.  Non-military spending skyrocketed under Bush and he never veto'd a single bill.

Natural Disasters -- Katrina fumble

Cleaning Up The White House -- Promised to return honor to the White House but had his VP's chief of staff "out" a CIA agent who was charged with investigating the sale of illegal nuclear materials.


Can someone give me an example of something at which Bush has succeeded?

[nlm]

I still Approve.  Congress on the other hand...

What do you like about him?

What are you looking for?  Policies or Personal Characteristics?

Why not give us the whole laundry list of the wonder that is George W. Bush in the mind of MODU - both personal and policy.

[Alcon]

Strongly disapprove.

[Raoul Takemoto]

Strongly disapprove.  He's not THE worst, but he's in the bottom 10 along with Buchanan, Fillmore, and Harding/Coolidge.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Approve

Strongly Approve of his foreign policy
Strongly Approve of his social issues
Strongly Approve of the majoirty of his economic policies
Strongly Disapprove of Immigration Amnesty Stance

[Silent Hunter]

Between neutral and disapprove. To make a choice I'd say disapprove.

[MODU]

Why not give us the whole laundry list of the wonder that is George W. Bush in the mind of MODU - both personal and policy.

hahaha . . . well, I'll give you the top 10 to save time/space:

Policies (in no particular order):
- Hydrogen initiative:  Though it is still short of the Manhattan Project I would want, it is the first major government-sponsored push in this field, laying the foundation for our future society.  
- Social Security:  Though Congress failed to do their job (again), Bush was right to push them to develop a comprehensive plan in order to repair/replace the existing Social Security system.  Investing portions of those funds into the market increases the revenue potential over what the current system provides.
- War on Terrorism:  Refused to treat terrorism as a police issue, taking the battle (both diplomatically and militarily) to the enemies of our nation and our allies.  Through which Libya abandoned their WMD programs, Lebanon freed from Syria, Pakistan and Middle East states turning against terrorist groups, Saddam killed, etc.
- Tax Cuts:  Record tax revenues at lower tax rates speaks volumes.  
- Free Trade:  Opening more markets with fewer hurdles for US companies to sell their goods and services internationally as well as to invest and expand their operations.
- Supreme Court nominations:  Two good judges appointed to help ensure the Constitution is interpreted properly.
- Forest Restoration:  The clearing out of debris from the nation’s forest to ensure healthy growth of national park trees while removing the fuel for forest fires is good for the environment, especially when droughts may occur.
- Prescription Drug Benefit:  Though more expensive than projected, the program does reduce the costs seniors have to pay on their daily medications.  It just needs to be streamlined to consolidate some of the option plans for easier selections.
- No Child Left Behind:  Forcing schools and teachers to be accountable for the quality of the education they provide is long overdue.  Congress just needs to finish funding it.
- Stem Cell Research:  Freezing the expansion of federal funds to be used towards embryonic stem cell research while increasing funding into other lines of stem cell research.

Characteristics:
- Doesn't make policy based off of opinion polls.
- Sticks with his decisions, even when they are controversial.
- Isn't publicly phased by criticism.

[nlm]

hahaha . . . well, I'll give you the top 10 to save time/space:

Now for the real challenge...........if you're up for it.

What does MODU not like about George W. Bush - if anything. You can keep it to your top 10 (you know, to save space) if the length of the list becomes a difficulty.

[adam]

Disapprove.

[MODU]

What does MODU not like about George W. Bush - if anything. You can keep it to your top 10 (you know, to save space) if the length of the list becomes a difficulty.

EDIT:  Sorry about that, I had to run out to the hospital.

Easy enough:
- Congressional spending:  He has not done enough to curb congressional spending.  While he was able to bully down their budgets with the threat of a veto, he could have done more.
- Public Relations:  Most of Bush's problems come from a terrible PR job.  While he gets great credit for not responding to personal attacks and low poll numbers, he fails to get his message across on a timely basis.
- Syria:  After supporting Lebanon following their separation from Syria, he needed to do more with Syria to break them away from Iran.
- Domestic Policy:  Unfortunately, Bush has been tied up with international affairs since 9/11 that he hasn't focused enough energy on the domestic front.
- Immigration:  Failed to get immigration reform completed, and completely ignored the need to modernize the Dept of Labor and streamline the immigration process (creating unnecessary "paperwork" illegals due to the delays causing visa's to expire).
- Venezuela:  Didn't do enough early on to marginalize the effect of Hugo Chavez.
- Canadian Timber Tariffs:  Though I understand why the tariff was enacted (our market being flooded with subsidized lumber, hurting our own companies), it was the wrong action to take since it violated our NAFTA agreement and weakened ties with one of our best allies.
- Putin:  After starting off so strong, Bush has allowed the relationship between him and Putin to soften, reducing the positive influence we were having on the democratization of Russia.  Additionally, Russia should have been brought in more with the democratization of the former Soviet states, resulting in warmer ties between the neighboring nations.
- Creationism vs Evolution:  Bush was right that creationism should be taught in school, but erred when he said it should be taught in science class.  As a result, it sparked a debate where one wasn't needed.  He should have called for it to be taught along with all the other creation beliefs in history/English classes.
- Iran:  More could have been done to assist Rafsanjani runoff election against Ahmadinejad.  Though we cannot provide funding directly, we do have a pro-Western operation within the northern regions of Iran, primarily through the Kurdish/Azerbaijani regions.  We might be able to recover from this in the next election as Ahmadinejad has nearly brought the nations' industries/markets to a halt.

[The Dowager Mod]

Not as bad as Buchanan (yet).