George W. Bush - The Verdict

Today is undeniably a historic day. Barack Obama becomes the first black President of the United States of America. But there is another reason to celebrate. Because, after eight long years in power, George W Bush – one of the worst Presidents in US history – leaves office.

It would be nice to write a balanced account of Bush, but there is so little that is positive about this most vilified of presidencies. So this isn’t a historical account of what happened, it is more a political autopsy of what went wrong.

That Stolen Election

It is a cliché, both in America and now across the world, to talk about how Bush and his cronies stole the 2000 election. And as with many a cliché, there is more than an element of truth to the accusation. Bush became President not because the voters elected him, but because the Supreme Court made him President.

Now, there are a lot of different reasons why Bush became President in what was one of the most farcical elections of recent history. The Florida electoral system, the rush to lawyers, the intervention of the Supreme Court, the refusal of Gore to fight on – all of these factors pushed Bush further and further towards the White House. Bush cannot be blamed entirely for the stolen election; but the reality is that he began his first term as a deeply compromised politician.

You can compare and contrast Bush in 2000 after his election “win” with Obama after his real election win last year. Bush was seen by half his country as a winner, and by the other half as a thief. Whereas there was a real surge of goodwill towards Obama. Obama enters office elected by a majority of voters and with a real sense that he should be there. Whereas Bush was “elected” by a minority, and entered office with half of his country resenting him.

Sure, Bush could have recovered his presidency. It was a bad way to start, but he could have turned it around. Yet at every important test he faced, he failed.

September 11th, 2001

9/11 gave Bush perhaps his best moment as President, and his one great display of leadership. Stood on the rubble of Ground Zero, shouting through a megaphone, he managed to unite his country.

Yet the immediate response of Bush to the emerging crisis – blankly staring into space for several minutes after being told of the attacks before going into hiding for the rest of the day, then later referring to the terrorists as “folks” – probably showed the real George W Bush. Cowardly, incompetent and lacking eloquence. You could argue that 9/11 was unprecedented, and no president would be able to respond in a flawless way. And I’d concede that point – to some extent. But the post 9/11 actions of the Bush administration were terrible and damaging – both nationally and internationally.

Bush’s attempts to increase the internal security of the US manifested itself in the utterly draconian Patriot Act. This Act represented the Republicans finally, and utterly, abandoning the small-state ethos of Ronald Reagan, and handing massive powers to the federal government. It will take years to roll back and fully unpick the devastating impact this terrible piece of legislation has had on the Land of the Free.

And internationally, Bush has managed to create not just one Vietnam but two – America is bogged down in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Even when the troops leave and US citizens stop dying in both of those countries (whenever rhetoric turns to action and that actually happens) there will be no stability in either country. Bush’s foreign policy adventures have not make terrorism less likely – in fact, the opposite is true. And he has not brought democracy and stability to either Iraq or Afghanistan. Bush’s global response to 9/11 has wasted the goodwill and sympathy may felt towards the US after 2001 atrocity, and leaves the incoming President Obama with a nation hated by many across the world.

Make no mistake; 9/11 would have tested any President; it certainly tested Bush. But his response to that attack would almost be used as a textbook example of what not to do in the face of a terrorist atrocity.

Hurricane Katrina

But – amazingly – it wasn’t Iraq or Afghanistan that broke the Bush Presidency. In fact, many supported him because he was “doing something”. He appeared decisive (you can be both decisive and wrong) and it appears many Americans respected that. Yet when the US faced a disaster caused by nature rather than terror, he was found to be wanting. He did nothing. He sat and waited, whilst New Orleans drowned.

And as New Orleans succumbed to the waters, so did the Bush presidency. I maintain that the Bush response to Katrina – or rather the lack of it – killed his second administration. Once Bush was seen as a ditherer and not taking actions that could have saved American lives, two things happened. The horrific Republican losses in the 2006 mid-term elections became inevitable, and Bush became a lame-duck President.

The polls reflect this; but Bush’s second term had to go on, even after the people turned against him. Which is one of the reasons why the 2008 Presidential Election became one of the longest and most expensive in history – almost as soon as he had been elected, the US was longing for his replacement.

The 2004 Presidential Election

Of course, no-one – not even Bush Junior – could be a total failure. Some point to his programme of aid to Africa as a resounding success. I’d concede this point, but would also point out that it is easy to be generous with money that isn’t your own.

Another apparent triumph for Bush was the 2004 election. Love him or hate, and regardless of whether you think he was the winner or the loser in 2000, you have to concede that he won in 2004. Yet, the extent to which this victory was down to Bush is open to question. The malign genius of Karl Rove was behind that election success, and Rove was aided no end by John Kerry – a compelling yet incompetent contender for President. Bush won; yet his victory was not because of Bush personally.

Perhaps, at the risk of being cynical, Bush’s real triumph was to stay alive during his time in the White House. Because by staying alive he was able to save us from the one person who would have been a worse President – the demon goblin himself, the bald Prince of evil, Dick Cheney.

So against every parameter and in the face of every test, Bush failed. The successes he did have can be attributed to others. And as such there can be only one verdict on the presidency of George W Bush; failure.