Analysis: Bush's personality shapes his legacy

Analysis: Bush's personality shapes his legacy

news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush will be judged on what he did. He will also be remembered for what he's like: a fast-moving, phrase-mangling Texan who stays upbeat even though his country is not.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This article paints a completely different picture than the one most of us have had of Bush over the last 8 years. I almost like the guy now. Almost. Obviously one feel good article about his personality quirks doesn't erase the mistakes and poor choices he has made, but it does create a better picture of who exactly our president is when he isn't scrambling his words in speeches.

My question to ATS is this, does reading this article change your opinion on Bush in any way?

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Jenna


I don't feel sorry for Bush, he has total ruined this country and now he gets to go back to civilian life and enjoy his millions. Meanwhile, the common American is left holding the bag because they believed the propoganda from Rove and Bush.

His ignorance and stupidity will make him go down in history as the worst president in United States History. When someone screws up, they'll say "Wow, that's BUSH league" oh, sorry it was already in the lexicon!

I think a far better article on your poor pathetic rich boy soon to be ex-president is from Frank Rich in the NYT.

A President Forgotten but Not Gone!

[edit on 1/4/09 by mel1962]

reply to post by mel1962


I believe you have said it best, friend. It's like an abusive boyfriend- We can say that he isn't all bad, has his good qualities, maybe he was just misunderstood, etc. But in the end, we are the ones getting beaten up and he gets to walk away, whistling a song.

in thinking back now---how the hell did this man get elected ---for 8 years no less

when i picture or think of him in my head---he's a babbling idiot

he certainly is no scholar in any area

of course i somewhat know the answer

karl rove----and smear campaigns

i just watched bush's brain

that dirty rove---shortly b4 election day planted a wire tap in his own office called all the media,,, blamed the other candidate----and guess what rove pulled out a win

campaign wins based on lias and dirty tactics

it was pretty damning---the movie

anyway---you mean to tell me in 2004 ,,, there was no one better than bush to run our country,,,,,come on


defintely lends credence to puppets on a string

whaty was america thinking

oh wait---that's right they voted for gore and kerry---but then election fraud was used

again we have karl rove

and hey---i believe in conservatism,,, which i now see differently than the republican party,,,,, in fact the libertarian party is probably a better choice for conservative principles---just a shame they get no press or money

we can dream i guess


anyway good topic

I do feel sorry for him in a way. He's been suddenly acting oddly intelligent lately. I think that the first 7 years of his failed Presidency were because of the neoconservatives whom he surrounded himself with.

Bush Jr.'s personality has shaped his legacy, alright; but not before his family's legacy shaped his personality. I mean, there's no question that the spoiled-rotten rich kid rode into Yale on daddy's coattails, silver spoon intact. And even though his family name wasn't quite sufficient to overcome his poor performance there [a fact to which The University of Texas School of Law, where the post-graduate Bush applied but wasn't accepted in 1970, can attest], some strategic string-pulling a few years later did manage to land him at Harvard, wherefrom he barely escaped with his highly-touted MBA, graduating very near the bottom of his class ...yet again. Apparently, the standards for acceptance to UT's Law School were a little tougher than those for general admission to Yale and to certain post-graduate programs at Harvard. Either that, or at least as far as the Ivy League is concerned, there might be some truth in the trusty ol' adage that it's not always what ya' know; sometimes it's who your dad knows. But putting aside the privileged (if dubious) educational pedigree, his many personal and business failings, prior to entering into politics (again on daddy's coattails), have been well-documented. Let's be honest; if not for his family name (I.E. based solely on his work history and piss-poor academic record), the man never would've even been considered for a position of authority ...at a burger joint.

Now, let’s look at his performance in The White House, bearing in mind that Clinton handed him a healthy economy, the lowest jobless rate in thirty years (3.9%), three years worth of budget surpluses, and a national debt of around 5 trillion dollars.

First off, what happened to the surplus cash? -- Straight out of the gate (that is, prior to 9/11/01), Dubya squandered that money on tax cuts: cuts that sunk the very economy they were supposed to stimulate.

Since then, he's rung-up (and broken) record deficits with each passing year, and has borrowed more money than all of his presidential predecessors ...COMBINED! -- The national debt now stands somewhere around 10 trillion dollars.

Granted, war is an expensive endeavor for any country to maintain, despite its lucrative nature for the companies contracted to help carry it out (winks).

And what about that, anyway? I mean Dubya's handling of 9/11? -- He hasn't caught Osama. More importantly, he's failed to destroy AQ. In fact, at the time of his '07 claim, that "they're weaker now than they would have been" if not for this ridiculous War on Terror ...and Iraq, British reports had their membership at an all-time high!

Does anyone even question the charge that Jr. just used the attacks of 9/11 as an excuse to finish the job his daddy couldn't in Iraq? -- Not with a straight face, I hope!

So where are we now? -- Well, to say nothing of our national image abroad, here at home: against a backdrop of eroded civil liberties, our economy's not just in the toilet; we're actually in the midst of the worst financial crisis since The Great Depression. The unemployment rate has skyrocketed to pre-Clinton Era proportions, as the job market is weaker than it's been in more than a quarter century. In short, the present day is bleak for the overwhelming majority of Americans, and the immediate future looks no better.

To sum it up: the outgoing administration has failed in historically EPIC proportions, and it all began at the very top …with a life-long Failure, whose personality, having itself been shaped on and by the legacy of the silver spoon and platter, has in turn shaped his legacy as President.

[edit on 1/6/2009 by Icarus_Fallen]