President George W. Bush - One of the great modern Presidents

[gunslinger06]

For whatever reason I happend across one of President Bush's speeches on youtube. He and his presidency have been beaten down so much by the media that people seem scarred to say anything good about the guy. My personal opinion- he is one of the great modern Presidents. Why? He protected the country. He lead honorably.He always thought of the troops.

Say what you want, I wish we had this guy back.
Bush vs Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIHz5tevLAw

Speeches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxR1tZ08FcI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OCgMPX2mE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0VQH8hODlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhpxiz2F4CY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-sHxr-995o

 

[03protege]

I believe Bush had good intentions and was as honest as any politician could be, I also give him credit for the situation he was dealt.


However, Bush as far as I am concerned is a Democrat and the policies he put in place I do not agree with.

 

[Nomad.2nd]

Sorry: no.

 

[jjwebbino]

W

 

[trigger643]

I doubt he'll be remembered as a great president. I voted for him twice on the grounds he was the better choice. Not a great choice. His greatest skill was surrounding himself with brilliant people and listening to them. Unfortunately, some of these brilliant people didn't have the country's best interests in mind.

I believe history will remember him for his abysmal monetary policy which included deregulation of commercial banking resulting in the financial melt down, the leader of the abrupt and sudden restrictions of personal freedoms after 911 by expanding powers of the NSA and other governmental control organizations to monitor and impede personal freedoms and finally as the president that undid the middle east by creating a power vacuum in a historically unstable region.

I'd place his legacy as a 20th century president somewhere between Hoover and Eisenhower, possessing Hoover's naivete of national and global financial matters and Eisenhower's disregard for personal liberties.

I believe the greatest Presidents of the last 100 years will be Truman, Reagan and F.D. Roosevelt, perhaps in that order.

 

[Labeeman]

W also spent spent tax payers money like a drunken sailor. He initiated the first bailout that basically started us on the path to where we are today as far as national debt goes, and the bad habit of creating money from thin air which destroys the wealth of the middle class. Like the above member said, he also implemented programs that destroyed our privacy under the guise of protecting us. I did not think much of it when it happened as I was mad as hell over the terrorist attacks, but looking at what the NSA is doing plus what you have to do to get on an airplane these days I find it totally unacceptable. With that being said I would take him over the current regime in a second. W actually loves his country, took care of our warriors for the most part and believes in capitalism.

 

[JNieman]

Well. He was one of the modern Presidents. I'll give him that.

 

[SVT]

Well. He was one of the modern Presidents. I'll give him that.

That's about all I'll give him as well. Lol

 

[2011Corvette]

For whatever reason I happend across one of President Bush's speeches on youtube. He and his presidency have been beaten down so much by the media that people seem scarred to say anything good about the guy. My personal opinion- he is one of the great modern Presidents. Why? He protected the country. He lead honorably.He always thought of the troops.

Say what you want, I wish we had this guy back.
Bush vs Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIHz5tevLAw

Speeches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxR1tZ08FcI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OCgMPX2mE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0VQH8hODlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhpxiz2F4CY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-sHxr-995o

I agree 100%

A leader with Christian morals!!!

 

[marcw85]

Better Choice than Manbearpig and Herman Munster

 

[Jack]

Well, you can't agree with everyone. I think that his actions are very close to obama's. Intrusion into the personal lives of citizens, crazy spending, Iraq, were all pretty bad ideas to me.

 

[eagle359]

I have mixed feelings when it comes to W. I liked him as a person and thought he was honest in his dealings with the public. He did his best to protect the country after 9/11. I would much rather go into Iraq and find no WMDs than have one used in the US after we had done nothing. I do fault him on his money policies.

 

[Armed Mage]

Only big difference I see between Bush and Obama's policies is in healthcare and gun control. Obama just continued and expanded Bush's civil liberties infringement, war mongering, and crap monetary policies.

IMO the last "great" president we had was JFK.

 

[gunslinger06]

His job as Commander in Chief of the Armed forces is what I think sets him apart. That is supposed to be the primary function of the President of the United States. The military (as a whole) love the guy.

Congress spends money. Congress approves when/where we go to war.

He gets the rap for the housing bubble bursting which is utter crap. Before 1999 when you took out a loan with less than 20%down you took out Private Mortgage Insurance(PMI) policy which you paid. If you took out a $150000 loan, got foreclosed, and the bank sold the house for $100000 at auction- the PMI company paid the bank the other $50,000. The bank is out no real money(except what they expected to make off of the intrest). Prior to 99, insurance companies and banks could not be the same company. That year, congress passed a law that deregulated this setup and allowed Banks to own insurance companies. The banks wanted this so that they could eliminate the "middle man" and keep more profits during the housing boom. The adverse reaction was that when the bubble burst and banks began to foreclose, the banks actually took the hit. Combined with the requirements(yes requirements-legally they had to) for banks to make loans to people they knew couldn't pay them and you have a "financial meltdown". Sometimes we forget who makes the laws. I wish he had vetoed tarp. Frankly however, I believe the veto pen should be carefully exercised. After all- those laws are coming from the representatives of the people.

As far as civil liberties infringement- If you think the government hasn't been monitoring private citizens from the beginning you are living in a fantasy land. It was just made easier with cell phones and the internet. The HUGE difference between Bush and Obama is that we have no evidence that Bush used this monitoring for anything other than protecting it's citizens. We KNOW Obama used the NSA, IRS, and Justice Department to intimidate and spy on it's enemies.

Iraq. I do think we should have gone to Iraq but I do not think we should have stayed. Move in, kill who needs killing, and leave. However, I don't know everything the POTUS knows. Congress, who does know what he does, approved of going to Iraq. My conspiracy theory is that whole thing had a lot more to do with Iran than Iraq anyway but that's a different story. I'll trust a man who knew things I didn't.

One side note: Bush catches a lot of crap for being a terrible speaker while President Obama is hailed as being a great communicator. Compare the two when they are off a teleprompter and on one.

 

[tim9lives]

I have to give Bush a lot more credit than I did when he was President. He did have conviction...And for that I respect him. I like that aspect of a president.

At the same time, I think he was led astray somewhat by his VP Cheney. And for Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld was just incompetent IMO. His crazy experiment of a leaner military and fewer troops... even when many experts said we needed a larger force to hold Iraq was just inexcusable.

Dick Cheney had no problem talking tough and sending troops to war, yet he never served a day in his life. Typical ChickenHawk IMO. And his friendship with Rummy went back decades which I think had a lot to do with the Administration keeping Rummy even when things were not going great. Rummy's asinine statement of not armoring the vehicles 2 years into the conflict still pisses me off. (you go to war with the military you have...not the one you wish you have or desire)
I still think those 2 really screwed things up....and if Bush would have had a different VP in his second term....or fired Rummy sooner....it would have made a huge difference.
Another thing which I really respect about GWB is that he has been totally silent once he stepped down. He has even made a point of telling the media that he won't comment on a sitting president. You got to give the guy credit where credit is due.

 

[Armed Mage]

Dick Cheney had no problem talking tough and sending troops to war, yet he never served a day in his life.

Which is why prior honorable military service should be a prerequisite for running for President/VP. If you haven't served you're in no position to be commander in chief and send Americans to die in a war you start.

Back in the day kings would go on the battlefield with their troops, it'd be nice if presidents did the same thing.

 

[gunslinger06]

I agree. The President should be a vet.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tim9lives]

Which is why prior honorable military service should be a prerequisite for running for President/VP. If you haven't served you're in no position to be commander in chief and send Americans to die in a war you start.

Back in the day kings would go on the battlefield with their troops, it'd be nice if presidents did the same thing.

Yep...I agree. I also think that because of George Bush senior's WW-II service...He made the decision to not invade Bagdad. Many criticized him at the time...but when one looks at Gulf War...it's pretty obvious that we kicked their ass yet had almost zero casualties. George Bush senior understood the horrors of boots on the ground IMO. And he listened to his top Generals.
Whereas during GWB's presidency...We had the Chickenhawks like Wolfowitz and Cheney who thought they knew more than Generals who spent decades studying warfare at West Point.

 

[Hermit]

Yep...I agree. I also think that because of George Bush senior's WW-II service...He made the decision to not invade Bagdad. Many criticized him at the time...but when one looks at Gulf War...it's pretty obvious that we kicked their ass yet had almost zero casualties. George Bush senior understood the horrors of boots on the ground IMO. And he listened to his top Generals.
Whereas during GWB's presidency...We had the Chickenhawks like Wolfowitz and Cheney who thought they knew more than Generals who spent decades studying warfare at West Point.

That's what I thought at the time; we followed "The Mandate."
But if Stormin' Norman had been able to finish the job, I think
things wouldda turned out a lot better. No Gulf War II.

 

[03protege]

I have mixed feelings when it comes to W. I liked him as a person and thought he was honest in his dealings with the public. He did his best to protect the country after 9/11. I would much rather go into Iraq and find no WMDs than have one used in the US after we had done nothing. I do fault him on his money policies.

IIRC the issue of the WMD was that it was a violation of a peace treaty from the first Gulf War and we, arguably, had to enforce it to show we are not pushovers.