Maybe He Wasn’t So Bad After All
by Art Lindsey III
According to the Politico’s Ben Smith, who is relaying information from Public Policy Polling, it would appear, as per their study, that 44 percent of Americans would prefer having George W. Bush as president for a third term than to have Barack Obama in office.
This is definitely an interesting conversation piece, assuming that the poll is indeed accurate. Ben Smith does not cite any source data for the poll, That will certainly raise the eyebrows of skeptics, but at the same time, President Obama’s approval rating is in fact hovering around 46 percent, so for the sake of argument, let’s examine this based on face value.
In the short time President Obama has been in office, in a matter of speaking, he himself has labeled his term in office as the “Not My Fault” presidency. He has continually discusses situations he has “inherited”, and seems to have no problems pointing fingers, particularly when it comes to matters of spending.
Obama often cites President Bush’s extravagant spending, in turn blaming it for the county’s financial straits; however, he seems to lack the basic math skills to realize that he himself has taken the Bush deficit and more than doubled down on it within his first year in office. Engaged Americans are smarter than this, and they see right through it.
Whether you like him or not, George W. Bush took ownership of his presidency. While he was often quieter than a lot of his supporters had wished, he had no problem stepping up when the chips were down. Remember when Bush took flak for his grammatically incorrect “I’m the decider” comment when he offered his support to then-secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld? The media had a heyday with that, as it always did, continuing to its never-ending quest to prove that W. was an idiot.
However, poor grammar notwithstanding, people seemed to miss the point. George W. Bush, while he is a man with many faults, had the spine to stand up and say “This is mine. This is all on me.” The only times Obama seems to use the word “ I” is when he is he is so quick to remind us that “I won” or “I inherited this”, in an effort to quickly assert that whatever has befallen the country on a given day certainly wasn’t his fault. President Obama operates in a never-ending “CYA” mode, which makes him more akin to TV’s “Steve Urkel”, who often said, “Did I do that?”
So when you look at it, this poll may have something to it. In all honesty, George W. Bush was far from a conservative president. But at the same time, he took responsibility for his office and the path of his nation, even when his decisions were unpopular. While some of his policies were indeed deeply flawed, Bush carried himself as a leader, and with dignity.
Could it be that President Obama’s ego is finally beginning to wear on the American public? One wonders how long America will tolerate a man who demands to be adored, yet can’t deliver, and then refuses to take responsibility for his ineffectiveness.
Amen to that!
http://www.confessionsofaculturewarrior.blogspot.com
Comment by Rich — December 11, 2009 @ 9:17 pm
It’s certainly undeniable that the Obama administration has essentially taken a bad situation and made it far worse. I think the problem, however, is assuming that Bush administration would have not double the deficit by now if it had stayed in office. I think all the evidence is that they would have, considering the economic advisors that Bush was listening to are the same ones that Obama/Pelosi are listening to.
The American government has been on a long-term course with disaster for quite some time. Since the late 1990’s the US has been in a bubble economy, and that fact has not changed.
Ultimately, the roots of our problems date back to Nixon’s changes to monetary policies in 1972 by the final scrapping of Bretton Woods, which was followed by a period of significant monetary inflation and dollar debasement up until the Reagan administration, where Paul Volcker admittedly did some good. But we the Clinton administration oversaw a return to inflationary policies that lead to the asset bubbles of the dot-com boom, and the real estate boom.
Unfortunately, both the Republican and Democratic parties still nominally support policies that will continue to degrade the financial standing of the US government, and the US citizen. All of these arguments over health reform and tax levels that you partisans focus on so much are much smaller problems in the overall economic picture today.
The US is on a collision course with disaster, and it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than tax reform, or reductions in social spending to reverse course. The problem is far greater than that. The whole of the US economy is now unsound do to the inflationary monetary policies that have been in place for 30 years. America is increasingly reliant on foreign capital to fund consumer lending, in order to keep importing. The US consumer is increasingly in debt, the wealth gap is increasing, the US manufacturing base is gone, and both the Democrats and Republicans *both* think the solution is for Americans to keep swiping their credit cards at Best Buy while the Chinese keep lending us money so we can keep the racket up.
The chicken is on it’s way back to it’s roost. It bought it’s ticket and it’s getting ready to board the plane.
Comment by Mike Brock — December 12, 2009 @ 4:42 pm
Bush vs. Obama is like asking if I’d rather be kicked in the balls or have my arm chopped off. Yes, I’d rather be kicked in the balls, but that doesn’t mean I find the experience in any way good or enjoyable. Bush sucked; Obama just sucks way harder.
Comment by EvilRedScandi — December 12, 2009 @ 6:21 pm
Are you all forgetting Bush started this mess? Seems to be a common trend. Bush-Cheney did 8 years of damage.
Obama inherited that disaster. Yeesh, you all expect him to undo 8 years of Bush’s damage and when Obama can’t do the impossible, you blame him for
Bush’s damage.
Comment by CK — December 12, 2009 @ 11:21 pm
Have you NOTICED that Past President Bush has not said ONE WORD about this administration and the way it is sending the American people into the crapper. NOT ONE WORD. Have you noticed that? I sure have.
Comment by Heltau — December 13, 2009 @ 6:17 pm
The Dems have run Congress since 2007 (almost 3 years). They had a full 18 months to reign in Fannie and Freddie and at least soften the crash in 2008.
And what’s the impossible? Restarting wealth creation? A simple 12 month Corporate Tax and Capital Gain Tax holiday would have made a huge difference in job creation (as well as extending the Bush 2003 tax cuts another 4 years). But Obama and crew had other ideas. They deserve the blame.
Comment by JP — December 14, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
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