Bye Bye

Bye Bye to the Worst President Ever

Bernie Horn:

On January 15, George W. Bush presented his valedictory, desperately seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and congratulations, W, for showing the world that today’s conservatism is an abject failure.

Thanks to Bush, we know that conservatives are not fiscally responsible, they are not for small government, they don’t stand up for moral values, and they won’t make Americans one bit safer. Conservatives aren’t even true defenders of “free markets” — having presided over the biggest market bailout in the history of the world.

After eight long years, Bush can no longer fool the public. Polls show that he is the most unpopular president in the history of survey research. When the 2006 and 2008 elections are considered together, Bush policies resulted in the landslide rejection of his party at both the federal and state levels. There are probably a hundred examples where Bush conservatism failed, but let’s stick with the top ten.

1. The worst recession since the 1930s...
   
   
2. The worst financial crisis since the 1930s...
   
   
3. The worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country...
   
   
4. Unprecedented rejection of human rights...
   
   
5. Watergate-style abuses of power...
   
   
6. Unprecedented increases in inequality...
   
   
7. A culture of sleaze...
   
   
8. Blind rejection of science...
   
   
9. Utter refusal to protect the health, safety and legal rights of Americans...
   
   
10. Presiding over our nation's worst natural disaster, and not caring...

- - -

So, congratulations for being the worst president in American history. That’s not just my personal opinion; that’s the opinion of 109 historians polled by the History News Network. Fully 61 percent ranked Bush as the “worst ever.” Ninety-eight percent labeled his presidency a “failure.” And this poll, taken in early 2008, predated the cataclysmic housing and banking crashes. Bye bye W — history will not be kind.

Bush Legacy

Meteor Blades:

Unfortunately, when he and Dick Cheney head out of Washington on Tuesday, their legacy will remain. The Smirk and the Snarl will fly away and take their audacious, minute-to-minute mendacity with them. No longer will a lickspittle media have to find fresh ways to rescue them from their latest betrayal, faux pas, stupidity, outrage. But the destruction they leave behind is deep and wide – a shredded Constitution, a wrecked economy, a worsened environment, a shattered multilateralism, a strengthened plutocracy, a partisan legal system, an undermined scientific community, crippled national security, trashed diplomacy, battered checks and balances. These will not – cannot - be fixed in a few months or even a few years.

Which made the aggressive treacle of Mister Bush’s farewell address all the more insufferable Thursday night. That it was his last speech as President was its only saving grace.