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

[CEHollier]

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.

I agree mostly with your post. Glass-Stegall was reversed under Bill Clinton so W can't take credit for that. And that is what caused our most recent economic melt down. Just like the first meltdown causing the Great Depression. Glass-Stegall was passed and designed to prevent banks speculating putting the markets liquidity at risk. Ten years later BOOM! The market almost collapsed. It was saved with taxpayer dollars. One of the biggest transfers of wealth in history ripping Americas taxpayers off big time. Then there's QE 1-2-3...

 

[headcase]

I liked his dad better...

 

[SVT]

The TSA, the Medicare Prescription Drug plan, the Patriot Act, the expansion of the police state, multiple wars, tremendous amount of debt, the bailouts....terrible.

 

[BobKaro]

Bush a great president? Nice.

 

[Devilneck]

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.

100% agreement, and I loved serving under him.

 

[El Rubio]

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.

Please cite which banking regulation Bush deregulated and how it caused a financial meltdown.

 

[Leonidas]

I agree. The President should be a vet.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

I'd be satisfied if he was required to be a citizen.

 

[Leonidas]

Please cite which banking regulation Bush deregulated and how it caused a financial meltdown.

Right, he attempted several times to stop the lunacy, a la Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, of forcing banks to make grossly undercollateralized mortgages to grossly unqualified borrowers who had no prayer of servicing the loans. The housing bubble catastrophe and all that followed rightfully lay on the doorstep of the Democrat Party.

I agree that he loves America, and was a great CinC.

That said, he fell short in many other ways. One of the greatest of the century, if so, only by default, since there weren't many that were even good.

 

[sandman7925]

Patriot act.

No thanks

 

[onebigbagostupi]

I agree 100%

A leader with Christian morals!!!

So Putin must be 2 thumbs up for you right?