September 26, 2008
The Failed Presidency of George W. Bush
As the election of the next President heads into the home stretch, we can look back and reflect on one of the worst performances by an American President in history. In a whole range of critical issues, Bush has made a thorough mess of the country and the broader international scene. As I see, these are his biggest failures.
The obvious main challenge of this administration was handling the aftermath of 9/11. While he initially had the support of the entire world in going after Al-Qaeda, Bush squandered this by his obsession with Saddam Hussein and his desire to magically change Iraq into a pro-American Arab ally. But the end result was a war that has cost over a half trillion dollars in direct costs, over 5,000 dead and 20,000 seriously wounded Americans, and according to many experts will eventually carry a financial price tag of over three trillion dollars.
The end result was not a unified, liberal, pro-American Iraq. Instead, Iraq is badly divided (despite the “surge”), and is turning into a Shia-dominated ally of Iran. The overthrow of Saddam was great for the Kurds, pretty good for the Shias, bad for the Sunnis, and terrible for the US, whose interests it was Bush’s job to look out for. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the Taliban are resurgent, and what should have been an easy victory is now looking like a much tougher and drawn-out insurgency, with not enough troops to go around.
At home, Bush’s administration has bungled the legal response to 9/11. His assertion that he has the right to detain anyone he wants on “enemy combatant” status was finally defeated by the Supreme Court, but meanwhile the torture chamber at Guantanamo Bay has damaged America’s standing as the leading voice of human rights in the world. This was a serious long-term mistake.
Bush’s financial management has also been atrocious. He inherited a huge budget surplus in 2001, but due to irresponsible tax cuts for the very rich and runaway spending, he has saddled the nation with huge deficits. This year it is going to exceed 500 billion dollars. Despite all this tax-cutting and deficit spending, we have had two recessions on Bush’s watch, first in 2001, then again right now. Stock and financial markets have performed horribly, and American stocks are worth much less now than they were when Bush took office. I would rather have the Clinton tax rates and the Clinton stock market and economy than the Bush version.
The real economy has performed very poorly for the average American. Even during the stretch from 2002 to 2007, the growth that did occur in the economy failed to benefit average Americans. There was no real growth in median income during the Bush years, and the poorest Americans earn less today than they did when Clinton left office. Almost all the growth was captured by corporations, and corporate profits surged from 450 billion dollars in 2000 to 1.5 trillion in 2007. As a slice of the total economy, corporate profits reached a record high, and this explains why working people never felt much improvement from the growth that did happen under Bush.
Bush has been a very weak manager. He rarely gets into the detail of policy, even where there is a pressing need for high-level decision-making, such as in Iraq. He is far too reliant on toadies and unqualified friends. This was seen quite clearly during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when his buddy who was the appointed head of FEMA was found to be totally incompetent and had to be pushed out for a real administrator. Other examples of flunkies getting too much authority included his attempt to put Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court and his appointment of Alberto Gonzales as the Attorney General.
Bush believes that history will eventually vindicate him. He really thinks that in the long run, his policy choices, particularly the invasion of Iraq, will be seen to have been a wise and visionary act. Perhaps, but for now the balance sheet is so lopsided that his dismal standing with the American people is more than justified.
Comments can reach me at Nali@socal.rr.com.
