George W. Bush as a Leader

As a follower of the president of the United Staes, all I can recall George Bush asking me to do was to go shopping and to accept the images of gore and destruction from Iraq on my television. It is truly amazing how poorly he is considered given he asked most Americans to do nothing but indulge their worst habits, such as mindless acquisitiveness, greed, and the free lunch. What was there to hate there, that resulted in his near total rejection by the U.S.?

Bush has no leadership strengths at all. He is someone who is detached from reality, delegated too much authority, and only wants to be told information he wants to hear. Leadership is not created in a vacuum, yet for the past eight years he has operated in such a vacuum. No president should have "handlers", which insinuates that he is incapable of leadership. The best leadership he can offer is when he leads Laura, Barney, and the moving vans back to Texas, where he can do no more harm to the nation or the world.

He mislead U.S. He said he was conservative, compassionate and Christian. 0 for 3.

He bled U.S. dry. He lied, denied, shamed, blamed others. He worships bankers above all.

The harder they come the harder they fall
one and all. An international truth tribunal
has ways of finding facts. Praise technology.

He gave us the nearest thing to Der FÜHRER since the 1930s, with Cheney as HIMMLER.

how can you people discuss a man's leadship
when this man has no brain

I had a Colonel in "Nam" that I would follow into hell. He received a battle- field commission while a young private in Korea and everyday he proved why they wanted men like him to lead men like us. George Bush took us to Hell and then left us there. Any poor, uneducated, racist American foolish enough to follow him ended up being left behind and/or dead on the sands of Iraq - for a lie. THERE ARE LEADERS AND THERE ARE FOLLOWERS, 43 WAS NEITHER.

No amount of lipstick can dress up the pig known as the bush/CHENY administration.

It is hilarious watching career Rep pols like Slade Gorton toss their individual credibility in garbage. Spending one's own gravitas in order to polish up Bush's seems like such a poor trade off it makes you wonder if Gorton's brain has turned to mush. Perhaps that is what we deserve after re-electing the schmuck, but at least the right isn't shrieking at us how great the putz is these days.

Re: Bush as Chief Executive and political leader.

While I strongly believe the policies and actions of the Bush administration have been damaging to the country, Bush himself has proven a very effective leader. his leadership style will be studied in business schools and books will be written about it. Somehow, he garnered a degree of blind trust and loyalty in his staff that I have not previously seen in a presidential administration. His administration used modern marketing methods to develop support from Republican legislators and voters even in the face of sometimes aggressive opposition. He put together a highly effective team that used modern communications and data mining methods to govern according to his philosophy. At the beginning of the Iraq War, his team was able to create an international coalition of smaller nations using methods that, while controversial, worked. Nations that would not participate were demonized and slandered so much as to create an almost national hatred. We should remember "freedom fries" and the ignorant behaviors that such propaganda create. Bush's team was able to herd Democrats in Congress for all of his first term and part of his second term and effectively prevent them from fulfilling their oversight role. By the time they showed some backbone, it was too late to change direction. Conservative religious leaders were particularly willing to follow the Bush administration's lead and became vocal proponents for almost all things Bush. The normally Republican leaning military seemed to shift even harder towards blind support of the President; this is particularly impressive when one considers that the administration failed and continues to fail to provide proper guidance, equipment and services to our soldiers. Even the "liberal" press was compliant for most of his first term and did not aggressively investigate the administration's claims in almost all areas of governance. He and his team used this effective leadership to pass legislation, declare wars and govern in a unilateral way. They got what they wanted even when it required unique interpretations of the Constitution to do so.

However, effective leadership does not mean good leadership. Bush's unilateral approach that appeared to have decisions made before all the facts were vetted resulted in numerous costly mistakes. Many of the philosophies of the conservative movement have been shown by many experts to be faulty; Bush and his team ignored the facts and pursued strategies that held no other result than those which we presently face.

So, his strength as Chief Executive was in the management of people and identifying staff members who were compliant and willing to do what the Administration wanted while shutting down the career employees who were not often in line with his policies. His strength as the first MBA Chief Executive was to adopt the techniques corporations use to sell products, effectively selling the American people on his programs. His strength as a political leader was to aggressively push conservative philosophies through all levels of government so that they have been implemented and, in some cases, fixed for years to come.

We are now seeing some of the results of Bush's style of leadership. They have mostly had a negative impact on our nation and on the political process. We will be seeing more results in the years to come in areas such as the environment where the results often take long times to reach a conclusive outcome.

Bush leadership is an oxymoron. Simply stated, a leader must have a vision and be able to communicate that vision to followers. He must be able to tell us what sacrifices we will have to make to achieve that vision, what it will cost us as individuals and as a group, what benefits will attain from following the leader, and finally, how we will know when we have succeeded. In those areas Bush is a complete and utter failure as a leader. His administration and leadership can only be described as stupefying incompetence.

George Bush a leader? Hmm...let me think about that for a minute. I guess it depends on how you define "leader". He was obviously easily manipulated while in office the the neo-cons, but I don't think he really ever showed any leadership skills.

Remember: Under President Bush, the U.S. suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. And there was plenty of warning. A huge failure.

Only being able to lead your sycophants is NOT being a leader of the UNITED STATES.

Bush and "Leader" do not belong in the same sentence. Bush is a coward, who purchased his MBA and screwed up every venture he has ever been involved with. Daddy's money and connections paved the way for this fool all his life. Our lives, and those of future generations, have all been seriously impacted by Bush's lack of maturity, insight, common sense and certainly - his failure to lead!

What Bush can take credit for, is showing up the fools who voted for a man they thought they could enjoy having a beer with, vs one with a brain, a vision, and a command of the English language. In every instance where courage and leadership was required, Bush has been a complete and utter failure.

George Bush and his administration have come close to destroying the fabric of our great nation. This election gave Obama a mandate, something Bush actually thought he had. That goes to show how lacking in intelligence he really is. He stole one election and won the second with nothing that could be considered a mandate!

Let's give Obama a real chance -and act as responsible, united citizens. We are "the people" and must make our views know to those elected to represent us. "We the people" must become active in government because, we are running out of time!

Don't be any stupider than you have to be, eh? One may use the words "Bush" and "leader" in the same sentence only if one is very, very drunk.
You've been asleep for 8 years, or what?

W probably is a good man (I don't know him personally) but he had no business being the president of the United States. He spoke folksy and Americans fell for it. On a bigger scheme of things, he won't be the last president that the Americans will elect who will turn out to a disaster for the country and it will happen when things are going generally well and Americans do not have to worry too much about paying their bills or mortgages and afford the luxury of thining about say gay-rights, abortion and etc...

The ongoing efforts to polish up a positive legacy for Bush, in any aspect of any leadership role, prove the old military maxim - you can't buff a turd.

If you really care anything about him, stop embarrassing him by asking people to lie. It's not easy for everybody, you know.

He's not fit to LEAD the night shift at Taco Bell. This is a joke, right?

Setting aside the results that were achieved (or not in many cases) Bush did exhibit some of what I consider to be good leadership skills. First, his position on issues was never ambiguous. Secondly, he made choices based on what he though was right rather than the latest polls. Lastly, he has owned many of the choices he made more so than others in his spot would have given the results.

The word "leadership" should never be included in any phrase referencing George Bush.

But, rather words like: corruptive, powerless, un-educated; mama's boy; failure, liar, former drunk and others that have yet to come to mind.

That said, I and other who served or who now serve only hope the faceless souls of those in Section 60 at Arlington and the other some 4200 US KIA..visit each and everynight Mr. Bush as he languishes with what "he" thinks his legacy will be..

LTC, US Army
Afgh/2003; Iraq/2005

Well let's see.
A drunk
A coward
A deserter
A liar
A traitor
A warmonger
A war criminal
No, nothing close to resembling leadership from this mentally defective parasite.

And you're right Colonel, I hope the spirits of the dead come back to haunt this rotten skunk every night for the rest of his life.

Maybe it will lead him to do the honorable thing, but I doubt it. There isn't an honorable bone in this bum's body.

Successes?
WHAT successes?
Puddin'head Bush had none!
LOL LOL

policyVictim :

He mislead U.S. He said he was conservative, compassionate and Christian. 0 for 3.

He bled U.S. dry. He lied, denied, shamed, blamed others. He worships bankers above all.

The harder they come the harder they fall
one and all. An international truth tribunal
has ways of finding facts. Praise technology.

POLICYVICTIM you are SOOOO right. That is why he will never be anything but a miserable failure.

George W. Bush is a man born of privilege. That is a fact that is reflected in his actions, not his folksy talk. He expected to be treated with a certain deference even as he treated others as he would a peasant. Sure, he could kind and even boisterous with the serfs, just as long as they knew he was "the decider." He could where a ten-gallon hat, but did anyone ever see him on a horse?

His true colors are shown in his complete distrust of American citizenry. One comment above remarked about what he thought was "sacrifice" - go shopping. Another mark of his thoughts about citizenry was his statement that watching the casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan on TV demonstrated how much sacrifice the citizens made. Finally, his sanction of doing completely un-American actions, like torture and domestic information-tapping, shows his disdain for citizens.

Bush probably would have made a reasonable monarch - perhaps he even aspired to one with his personal Cardinal Richelieu, Dick Cheney. His administration certainly acted like it was an absolute monarchy.

That's the problem with President W.: he didn't read enough history to inform himself that American citizen patriots won the Revolutionary War, not the British monarchists. Maybe in retirement, he will find time to read the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

President Bush will go down in history as one of the great presidents and the one who kept us safe for eight (8) years. I welcome this great President and Governor back to Texas.

Dear America,

First I'd like to wish all of you a Happy New Year without Mr. Bush and his constraints on representing America for the past eight years.

Second, I am once again amazed that Mr. Bush refused to allow the General Motors Corporation to die in it's bullshit "Corporate Fraud!"

The American's that suffered at the hands of GM and GMAC deserve better treatment and representation from their president. Those of you around the Globe who know what happened to my family and I in San Francisco, California when I exposed "General Motors Corporate Fraud" in the SF Bay Area while engaged as a Mechanical Expert Witness in a Class Action Lemon Lawsuit with the Law Firm of Norman Taylor, Esq. of Burbank, CA.

Shame on you again Mr. Bush, let the bastards die as GM did to the American Motoring Public for years; I saw the evidence with my own eyes and feel the pain to this very day of loss.

Respectfully Concerned for America,
Domenick Samuel Clemente
Licensed California Automotive Instructor

George is a leader in the same style and manner as Hitler, Musselini, Nero, Stalin, Pol Pot, et al! He has a messanic belief in utter nonsense, a delusional view of himself and his country, a rapine view of opportunity, and an evil, sick view of war, power, murder, torture, and people!

He is worse than worse; he should be recorded as a homicidal maniac destroying his nation, his people, and indeed the world for personal ambition and Hubris!

It is a rare event to see, when a president leaves office and the country is worse off than when he becomes the comander in chief. It will take a great effort by everyone one of us to repair the damage Bush has done to our country.
David Blanton-Louisville Kentucky

George W. Bush did not view leadership as a critical part of his job, which he defined as making decisions, thus his comical nickname of "the decider." This perception of the job so narrowed his approach to it that he fail to use the "bully pulpit" to lead the American people. Worse, he and the GOP leadership in Congress allowed themselves to be led by the lowest common denominator in the party. They were slaves to "the base" and lost all but those who thought past their own emotional reactions to challenges. What a pity.

Richard, Washington, DC

Not sure where Celticfarrell55 learned to count. George Bush did NOT keep us safe for 8 years. There is the matter of the attack on 9/11 during his tenure. (read Frank Rich NYT for other 'timely' truths)
Furthermore you can't claim to be the Decider and then conveniently blame every bad decision, and there were tons, on faulty intelligence and bad timing.

Mr. Bush lacked the ability to persuade on the large stage of the nation and the world, and this is his great tragedy, for I believe he is a decent human being. He did things history will credit him for and others for which the record will be condemnation. But, above all, he couldn't bring us with him, he could not inspire, he could not reassure.

Mr. Bush lacked the ability to persuade on the large stage of the nation and the world, and this is his great tragedy, for I believe he is a decent human being. He did things history will credit him for and others for which the record will be condemnation. But, above all, he couldn't bring us with him, he could not inspire, he could not reassure.

Worst President Ever. The first seven years were bad. The last six months have been a disaster. He couldn't hold the economy together long enough to help his party in the Nvember elections. And, he allowed Israel to attack Gaza during his final weeks. What else is in the closet.

As multiple comments before mine have indicated, the word 'leadership' and G.W. Bush should not be used in the same sentence..they are mutually exclusive.

JUST to mention a few (albeit far from all inclusive):
1) US has become the economic abyss of the world. We are probably now the largest debtor nation on earth.

2) We now as a POLICY of the US Government condone and use torture.

3) After MANY years and BILLIONS of dollars one of the nations largest and most diverse cities is still trying to get help from almost complete destruction.

4) We are wasting approximately $12 BILLION (publicly documented) a month fighting a war completely optional for the nation based on egos and outright lies.

5) The US as an entity in the global community is now viewed as a global bully and is a sinkhole most nations are trying to avoid.

His 'reign' will always be recorded as a 'bookmark' in American history where the nation exited his rule (as close to a monarch we have ever seen) on the brink of becoming a mangled mess of opposing ideological viewpoints, racial divides worse than has ever been seen in this county (I lived thru the 60's so don't go there), poverty and homelessness out of control and getting worse, millions uninsured in any way for catastrophic health issues, and the list goes on and on...

This is the clinical definition of unacceptable.. Bush as a person and Bush as a President have been and will continue to be remembered as a total failure for centuries.

He deserves it...

My comment to G.W.Bush 's legacy is simple:

Tunnel Vision!

I'm a little confused. You implied that there have been successes? Apart from "clearing brush" at his ranch and avoiding impeachment and indictment, I can't cite anything remotely resembling a success from the Shrub. That's why 75% of the country have said they won't miss him. The other 25% must already think he's gone...or are too busy shredding documents and getting one way tickets for Dubai to respond.
I'd say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but I had more respect for his father than that. But not much.

Sir,
That was my first comment that you refused to print.
Freedom of speech?

Semper Fi

To answer the headline, "Dissecting Bush", all I can think of is, can I watch?

If leadership is based on lies, then Pres. Bush is the best leader in history. He lied us into war, he lied about the U.S. attornies who were fired for no cause, he lied about Valerie Plame, he lied about being a healer rather than a divider, he lied about torture, he lied about warrantless wire-tapping, he lied when he said we'd rebuild New Orleans, and on and on. The Iraqi journalist who through shoes at the liar was a fitting ending to this disgraceful presidency.

George Bush, at the apex of his presidency, addressed Congress and the nation after 9/11. When he warned the world that either you were with us or against us, that harboring or providing support for terrorists made others terrorist equivalents, little did we know that he would take the same black-and-white position against his own countrymen. Not that his critics harbored or supported terrorists. It was enough to disagree with him, his policies and his methods to render us unpatriotic, against the troops, not real Americans. Perhaps this Manichaean approach to governing suited him personally and, in the short, term politically, but the price we as a nation have had to pay for his stunningly divisive presidency will take as long to pay off as will be the consequences of his fiscal and regulatory non-policies.

Perhaps I am out of sync. However apart from Bush's Iraq policy, and his closeness with the recluse Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz I see him as a most compassionate and good leader. He has taken many bold steps post 9/11. Some of them worked and others did not.

Blaming Bush for the economy is really uncalled for and I am aware that leftists would do just that. The American economy is down mostly because of the culture of indulgence that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have done. Subprime mortgage rates, giving money to those who cannot pay are the functions of the greedy, fast-buck making Americans. It seems that Americans have lost the sense of personal responsibility in constantly and unfairly beating Bush. T

As a policy, I strongly have and shall continue to disagree with Bush and his recluse cronies on the Iraq war. The War of Terrorism is a correct thing to do. The Guantanamo Bay prisons are also OK with me. Has anyone thought: how do you determine (mathematically) determine which Muslim is a terrorist and who is not ? To do so, Bush initiated the "controversial" secret NSA program of warrantless eveasdropping. Americans are furious at that - according to the recent Newsweek. I am aghast at this. If a President is using a (albeit an imperfect) method to save lives of Americans, or waterboarding the butcher Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who has confessed to decapitating Daniel Pearl, to get some clues from his confessions, that makes Americvans angry because human rights are violated ? What would be beter: get blown away in another repeat 9/11, or, have a "controversial" program that may not sit well with ACLU and Amnesty International but can save lives and property from thhe hate of radical Islam ?

As a President, I think he was what was needed after Clinton. I never liked Clinton's (and probably Gore's, if he had won) leadership via pools. Clinton was clueless on what to do until his administration conducted a poll. Not what I call a strong leader.

I believe that those that comment that Bush was lacking will after a while find that Obama is also, if not more so, lacking. I'm bothered by Obama's lack of executive experience (he will be the nation's Chief Executive) and overall experience. Experience as a community organizer and state congressman do not translate to the experience required for President. At least Bush won two terms as TX Governor and had to work with the TX State and House to get bills passed. Obama has no such experience (the time he spent in the US Senate was used primarily running for President).

I think history will eventually show that Bush had the courage to go against popular opinion in order to make the US and the world safer. Appeasement of terrorist groups will not make one safer (has Hamas is currently demonstrating). Also, when the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq are put in perspective with past wars, the 4,000+ dead will seem like a pittance. There were battles in the Civil War, WWI, and WWII where more than 4,000 soldiers were killed in one day. I'm afraid that the US is becoming more and more sensitive to its own soldier deaths and that it will not permit the country from truely finishing a war when it needs to be.

I agree with the statement that leadership and GW Bush do not belong in the same sentence, paragraph, page, or article. The man only listened if at all to his close minded little circle of right wing wealth types. To be a leader is to be a thinker. This president has been a reactionary, never quite seeing the big picture.

History should not treat him kindly...he's been an embarrassment to our country...go Dixie Chicks...how could a rock and roll band be so right when millions of our fellows were so wrong.

Bush hasnt had any courage since he took his last drink of alcohol. What a waste of human being materials. What a coward of a man who hides his head during 9/11 and doesnt show up in Washington until Cheney gives him the green light. I think of all the US troops who have unnecessarily died as a result of following this idiots orders. Where is the backbone of every other serving military person in resisting the death and destruction ordered by this half wit who is merely trying to get his fathers attention. What a complete waste of human characteristics. What a waste of time he has become. What shame he has brought down on the US. What an unscrupulours unprincipled wastrel. Where it the justice in allowing him to roam free?

Tony Gillotte'
Vacaville, CA

..... 8 totally wasted years of opportunity to do great good around the world. If one believes in the concept of sin, Bushes administration is one of the big ones.

Say what you want about George W. Bush the person, but his Presidency has been a total catastrophe.
Today, America's financial, military and diplomatic power have all been substantially weakened because of his belligerence and divisiveness. For those who thought the Nixon era was was a tough time for American democracy, the Bush administration has literally redefined rock-bottom.
He was never Presidential material and we the American people are partly to blame for
changing direction during a time of relative global prosperity (i.e. Clinton admin.). The best thing to ever come out of the Bush Administration was the election of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, he'll be spending most of his time cleaning up Bush's gigantic mess.

May he rot in Hell!

George W. Bush is a rogue president who assailed the constitution he swore to protect and defend, started an unprovoked war that caused unspeakable human suffering among Americans and Iraqis alike and, worst of all, condoned torture as U.S. policy, no matter how often he denies it. He is a disgrace. Instead of spinning his personal legacy, he should devote the rest of his life to assuring the legacies for all those left maimed, killed, tortured and out of their minds with grief by his wreckless, lawless policies.

Successes and failures ...... successes? O, yea, he did extend daylight savings time for a few weeks. Can't think of any more successes and don't have the time needed to list failures - or consider just the top 10. Good riddance!

Bush is the most arrogant, incompetent and ignorant man to ever hold the office. He has set this country back decades and left our once great country in a shambles from which we may never recover. Rot in hell, go back to Texas and may we never see the likes of you, Rove, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Brownie, Gonzo, et. al. again.

I appreciate Bush. He has done a fine job with national security, and has had some fine advisors. I think most people want to be in the "in" crowd of piling on Bush, without so much as stopping to think of the benefits of his leadership. Knee jerk, in a phrase. The credit problem has been building for years under Greenspan's rule, and just exploded under Bush's tenure. Easy credit has brought us to a standstill because we have spent all our future money for about a decade. How to solve this non-Bush problem? This from Mr. Practical: We need to allow interest rates to rise so people can save. We need to cut government spending by 95%. We need to eventually cut taxes by 95%. We need to decentralize government’s power. In the short run this will hurt - but in the long run our children and this country will be much, much better off.

George Bush has undoubtedly been the biggest presidential failure the U.S. has ever produced, or at least in the top three. I honestly can't think of one positive thing he's done, and he's leaving the country in ruins. And please don't say he's kept us safe? How do we really know he's had anything to do with it, and at what cost?? Could he not have kept us safe while respecting the Constitution and obeying the law, and not invading a foreign country that wasn't a threat? I was never particularly interested in politics until this miscreant came along and started screwing up. The only thing I'm thankful for is that he spawned my political awakening, paved the way for a new Progressive era, and by being so utterly corrupt and incompetent, helped us elect our first black president.

The only good thing Bush has done is provide a situation where congress was able to prove how criminal they are as a whole. For his involvment in the events of 911, and every crime he has comitted since, our congress should have impeached him and Cheney, tried them for murder, treason and crimes against humanity, and then had them stood up against a wall and shot. They wern't just bad leaders, they are criminals, that participated in a false flag terrorist attack against america on 911, and the proof lies in the fact that their explaination of those events is physically impossible. All of their other crimes stem from this first and unforgivable crime, and our broken government, that is congress and the justice dept. are guilty of misprison of treason for not only allowing these crimes to go unpunished, but for helping to cover them up. You see, there are some laws that not even Bush and Co. can't break, and those are the laws of physics. They are immune to assertion, and they are immune to disbelief, so it doesn't matter how much they assert that their story is true, and it doesn't matter how much most of you don't want to believe it, the fact is, steel frame buildings don't "collapse". None ever has for any reason, so the govt. contention that the world trade towers "collapsed" is a lie. The contention that they collapsed at virtual free fall speed is impossible. The only explanation that fits what we all saw on TV, is some kind of controlled demolition. That being the only possibility, it was an inside job and Bush and Cheney not only knew, they participated.

The only good thing Bush has done is provide a situation where congress was able to prove how criminal they are as a whole. For his involvment in the events of 911, and every crime he has comitted since, our congress should have impeached him and Cheney, tried them for murder, treason and crimes against humanity, and then had them stood up against a wall and shot. They wern't just bad leaders, they are criminals, that participated in a false flag terrorist attack against america on 911, and the proof lies in the fact that their explaination of those events is physically impossible. All of their other crimes stem from this first and unforgivable crime, and our broken government, that is congress and the justice dept. are guilty of misprison of treason for not only allowing these crimes to go unpunished, but for helping to cover them up. You see, there are some laws that not even Bush and Co. can't break, and those are the laws of physics. They are immune to assertion, and they are immune to disbelief, so it doesn't matter how much they assert that their story is true, and it doesn't matter how much most of you don't want to believe it, the fact is, steel frame buildings don't "collapse". None ever has for any reason, so the govt. contention that the world trade towers "collapsed" is a lie. The contention that they collapsed at virtual free fall speed is impossible. The only explanation that fits what we all saw on TV, is some kind of controlled demolition. That being the only possibility, it was an inside job and Bush and Cheney not only knew, they participated.

Strange ! Reading the needless venom spewed at Dubya, I am wondering if the bloggers would also start opining that Dubya actually had the Twin Towers bombed and not Osama bin Laden and his cave dwelling Muslim radicals ! Looks as if bin Laden has more following in USA than Bush !

George Bush will go down in history as a failured president, who never quite caught on with reality. His view of things was always out of step with the real world. He could never accept criticism from anyone without blowing his stack. He is total fake and a shallow uncurious person who never ever should have be allowed to ruin America. Blame Karl Rove for creating this monster.

My God are you generous in fining near anything positive about "the Liar in Chief". For starters the Libby leaks, as McClellan said, were fully orchestrated from Bush/Rove on down. Making us miss Nixon compared to Bush. And a many trillion dollar deficit for the benefit of the rich only ending in a collapsed economy.

November 4, 2008: Obama Elected! Mission Accomplished!

I must agree with those who have written before. These past 8 years have been a textbook case study of the Peter Principle, where an entire administration was conceived in incongruity and dedicated to the proposition that they have absolute power. Unfortunately, our nation and our people were deceived, and we failed to exert our constitutional authority to reign in the menace before it got out of hand.

Mr. Bush is probably well suited to being the next commissioner of baseball, for there, after about 9 innings, he'll truly be able to say, "Mission accomplished."

Simply: 9/11 a moment that required a leader. Iraq / Afganistan - a moment that required a leader. The bailout (s) a moment that requried a leader. George did not show up. the "Worst President" of ALL time.

The term “Bush success” is an oxymoron. He has been a complete and total failure. I hope that history remembers him as the incompetent fool that he is.

fr mraymond10:

>...Bush himself has proven a very effective leader. his leadership style will be studied in business schools and books will be written about it....

Oh puhleeze. The ONLY book that will be written about DUMBYA is how to avoid making the same mistakes that he did. He's been an abject failure for all of the 8 years he subjected us to. He bought his way into office when we had a good solid balance, and whined, creebed, moaned and performed for photo ops until he's created a HUGE deficit, like ronny raygun did.

According to his sayings and his deeds he must be mentally sick. He destroyed everything America stands for.

Any attempts to re-define George Bush as anything but condescending, incompetent, rude, bellicose, secretive beyond any bizarre sense of propriety, reclusive, egotistical, bombastic, and totally uninterested in anything should be redacted from his legacy, using the same redacting pen his "administration" used when hiding pertinent and possibly ghastly information about his activities in office.

As a teenager I lived through Nixon and I was sure he was the worst president ever. Then came Reagan and while he wasn't as blatant a criminal as Nixon, he was worse in other ways. He was an incompetent blithering idiot, a racist and a self-righteous, pandering tool. Nixon at least wasn't stupid and wasn't only a greedy go-fer solely interested in making money for his friends. Nixon, though a right wing fool, wasn't playing at politics with stupid sloganeering masquerading as statesmanship. I think he really believed the nonsense he spouted.

Then came this one. A liar and a tool. A self conscious, drunken frat boy who only wants to win rush pledges and do what the BMOC want him to do.

All this is old news. Hopefully, as his cronies are disentrenched the truth will slowly come out:

I hope to see proof of massive fraud, collusion, graft and corruption at every level of the DoD and its contractor army, Wall Street, the Oil companies and the banks. This president allowed a complete meltdown into meaningless irrelevancy of what is now clear were deeply needed regulatory agencies. Agencies whose power was created to answer the thievery that produced decades of hardship and suffering for the lower and middle classes. Agencies who were the enemy to Reagan, Bush and all their CEO golf buddies who profited from skirting those laws. Justice, State, the SEC, the Fed...even the Supreme Court. They have been filled with dimwitted political functionaries who had and have no duty to the offices they filled other than political ideology. The final straw is the $700 billion payoff for the very crooks who robbed the store...let's hear the whole story on that one!

Great leaders have one thing in common: statemanship. The ability to put the laws into historical perspective and see the effects of changing them far into the future. The power to use intellect to see the consequences of our actions for future generations. The selflessness to put aside corruption and turn their backs on graft.

American leaders have the privilege of having the Constitution, the greatest and bravest piece of enlightened political thought ever written as an indelible template to model our particular brand of statesmanship. This president did not recognize or understand the power of that document, had no respect for it and ignored it blithely (even while invoking it as a campaign tool). In fact he did more to weaken and harm the constitution than anyone in history. It will take years to repair the damage from the Patriot Act and all the other disgraces this man and his Congress ruled by idealogical zealots and political hacks forced through. All while warning of the false and exaggerated boogeyman of terrorism to blackmail this shame into law.

I think I have lived through the three worst presidents in history. But this man is clearly the worst, both stupid and venal.

I'm reminded of the end of the Harry Potter series, after Voldemort is dead where Harry's friend says that Slytherin House, the home of all the evil wizards in the books, should be thrown out and not allowed back into the wizard school.

I feel the same way about the GOP.

wasn't it obvious?
GW bush was puppet for the gop cabal that included Cheney, a whacko defense secretary, and a bunch of right-wing extremists that took on the mid-east and failed miserably.

GW was, and still is, the chimp that was spawned by his father and mother in texas.

But at one point, and this goes to GOP judgement, they all thought that GWBush was the best puppet for the job.

He even failed as a puppet!

I submit that it was a very poor choice, and one that won't be freely given to the GOP in the future.

Open the suitcase and drop the dummy inside.

this is over, and the GOP should rightly be ashamed; very ashamed.

It all comes down to two things: Competency and Honesty. Bush scores at the bottom in both, making him a failure. BTW, he always had scored at the bottom in these - long before he became POTUS.

What Bush should lead us all to, is the ability not to be stuck with a president who can not make adjustments to a failed policy. We need the ability as a country to remove such an absolute failure to civil rights, human rights, the rule of law.
Why we were not able to remove him at any point in his totally failed reign is beyond me. Bush not only showed he was a failed leader, but look at our congress, they failed to look out for us, even when we told them we wanted change, and didn't get any. All three branchs of government leadership have failed us these past 8 years, and that concerns me moving forward.

Clinton’s administration neglected national security and result is 9/11. Since then there was no attacks, thanks to Bush and Cheney. Terrorists are simply afraid of them because the do what the say. Don’t be too smart and pray that they will afraid Obama as much…

Good things - No attacks after 9/11.
Bad things -
1. Katrina (FEMA secy, ex horse trainer when New Orleans sank!)
2. Energy policy defined by closed door meetings by Cheney
3. Boom in housing market that Bush took credit for (its on his white house page) now comes crashing down and now its not Bush's fault ..?
4. Complete disregard, then skepticism then silent-approval-but-do-nothing policy on global warming issues. Things could have been done in the last 8 years that could have put this country in much better stead with regards to renewable energy and technology. This is a big factor in what makes the big 3 from Detroit lie in a pathetic state of affairs.
5. No child left behind - a complete joke as US school education ranks one of the lowest in industrialized nations.
6. Largest trade deficit of the US, failing infrastructure leading to failing industries that are not globally competitive nor are changing with the times and needs of the world. A better president could have channeled American entrepreneurship and intelligence to build a 21st century society that is globally competitive.
7. Social security initiatives that Bush promised but failed to change (he promised it during campaigning)
8. Sky rocketing health insurance costs that he failed to address
9. Iraq - the less said the better.

Finally let us not forget this person never won the 2000 election and barely won the 2004 elections. His campaign successfully divided and ruled the public - the rich and the poor, the religious and the not so religious, the far right and the far left, the gays and the bi's. Let us not forget he is President who said "you are either with us or against us" that he had won "political capital" and wanted to do all he could do get his teams agenda accomplished in DC.
As far as his team goes, he was surrounded by people who were at best dumb or at worst machiavellian cronies who have corrupted power and used this country's resources in endeavors, the repercussions of which only time will tell.

Uncensored, rude vitriol in blog comments about Dubya are unfortunate. But equally unfortunate is the making excuses for and candy-coating something that was/is such a grave threat to the rule of law in a civilized society as has been his presidency. It's sad enough that his pals are on a 'burnish the legacy' tour that features more spin, denial and statements that appear to be outright lies. It would be nice if editorial voices and contributors would take some time off from continuing to aid and abet this effort and start digging for real, hard evidence for and against, so we can see, in daylight, what exactly has gone on in there for 8 years. Dubya gets unwavering loyalty from certain people. So did Jim Jones. Call it whatever you want, but it's not leadership. If there's hard proof that he indeed kept the nation from being attacked again after he allowed it to be attacked the first time, let's see it. If he's really a voracious reader, and actually understands what he allegedly reads, lets have him come out and demonstrate this. Real leaders will stand up and engage in debate (without mysterious rectangular objects under their suits) and defend themselves with verifiable evidence, not just anecdotes from friends. Absent that, the charges leveled by these 'whacko Lefties' will remain, for there is little hard evidence that they are not the correct description of what this man is and was.

Not one of you who have posted here knows anything about what it takes to be the President of the United States. None of you are aware of the daily security briefings that take place each morning at the White House. Most of you would puke and never leave the house if you knew what was really going on in the world. All of you have to believe what you read in the Main Stream Media which is dominated by liberals. If Bush had broken any laws he would have faced the consequences. The only thing I'm ashamed of is how the United States has been watered down by liberals over the last 50 years. Mass Immigration from the Middle East and Southern Hemisphere where citizens show utter contempt for the United States on a daily basis. I do support the following liberal agenda.
1. Keep Abortion legal
2. Allow men to marry men
3. Allow woman to marry woman.
In two generations there will be no more Liberals. Mission Accomplished.

I am a Disabled Veteran. President Bush signed an Executive Order (13360) and a U.S. public law (P.L. 108-183) in 2003 authorizing a minimum 3% participation in Federal Contracts by Service-connected Disabled Veterans. That was very good news at the time. The very bad news is that 6-years later the Government has achieved less than 30% of this goal. This attempt at helping the needy without providing effective oversight seems to be a hallmark of Bush's Presidency and it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to relate to him. I am sure that one day we will find that he has infirmities we currently know nothing about.

Yonkera, New Yoek
06 January 2009

George W. Bush's worst and greatest mistake as a world leader was his preemptive and unilateral invasion and occupation of Iraq on false pretenses and even "doctored" intelligence.

Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He was not pursuing a program to make nuclear or biological weapons. He had no ties to al-Qaeda or to Osama bin-Laden. He was not buying yellow cake from Niger. Saddam did not pose a threat, let alone an imminent threat, to the United States.

The real "war against terror" should have been fought in Afghanistan. But Bush made the costly mistake of diverting U.S. military forces from Aghanistan to Iraq. In Iraq, U.S. military forces have been stuck in a quagmire which has cost America dearly in terms of American as well as Iraqi lives squandered, as well as U.S. treasure which may total well over $1 trillion--and still counting!

George W. Bush has recklessly brought America all that grief, all that global resentment and hatred, and all that ruin.

Mariano Patalinjug
MarPatalinjug@aol.com

George Bush has been an intellectual and moral disgrace. He is sheer puffery--no substance. The "brain" that got him elected was Karl Rove, the Josef Goebbels of the Bush Administration. It's a shame that it took Americans so long to figure out what a dangerous and dumb president we have had. Now the "shrub" is trying to rewrite history and cast his "reign of error" in a kinder light. Fortunately, it's too late. He's always been a cheat and a loser and will remain so in the eyes of history. I wish that I had something positive to say about this disgraceful wretch.

The world is breathing a sigh of relief.....the nightmare is over...time to go to Fox News and expel your hot air Mr Rove

The #1 Job of a president is to keep America safe and Bush HAS NOT....

IRAQ WAR MADE AMERICANS LESS SAFE

The National Intelligence Estimate that was released today—titled "The Terrorist Threat to the Homeland"—amounts to a devastating critique of the Bush administration's policies on Iraq, Iran, and the terrorist threat itself.
http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20070717_release.pdf

Cobra2! Cobra2!

You've been hijacked by Anne Coulter!

Eject! Eject! Eject! before you lose all contact with right and wrong and reality!

Why bother Dissecting the Bush Administration?

Every US voter can see that if you vote Republican you get Communism!

Karl Roves's NeoConMen were all about their stausian text. Tell the voters a fairy tale and rip them off end of story.

George Bush's greatest (and possibly only) strength as President has been his ability to tell three hundred million Americans that horse pee was champagne and have half of them drink it.

His main strength was providing reassurance to the nation after 9/11. The "No Child Left Behind" initiative is the only bipartisan measure of his I can recall in eight years.

By far he was a devisive figure, invading Iraq for I suspect, personal reasons, rather than national reasons. (His Dad let Saddam Hussein remain in power and slaughter 20,000 Shiites while our army was a stone's throw away. I suspect he tried to improve his family's reputation.)

He practiced the politics of exclusion, hewing to a narrow right wing agenda and played the usual blame game for high oil prices ("free" market), high deficits (Democrats in congress), international isolation ("Old Europe") and economic meltdown (10 years lead up to this).

I always felt he was talking down to me in his speeches and just tuned him out eventually. Obviously you have to have a big ego to be President, but this guy had little else.

John in Portland, Oregon

Bush was actually very effective as a politician - ONLY. He had no interest and no talent in governing. We should never elect anyone like him again.

Without question George W Bush should go down as the worst president in US history. His incompetence combined with his arrogance has been a catastrophic mix for our country and much of the world. Say what you will about his conviction and values, the man was wrong about everything AND too stubborn to listen to anyone else in time to fix anything. For a man of such admired values, you would expect that the buck would stop at his desk, yet the "man" can't think of a single mistake he feels he was responsible for. I can't think of a catastrophic event over the past 8 years that he DID'NT have a significant role in.

Mr. Bush was a terrible leader but a good campaigner. He didn't speak from the heart so much as from prepared remarks meant to sell him as candidate or president. It was fine as long as he didn't ask much from us personally. So we sent the 'volunteer' army to war overseas and kept shopping here at home, just as he'd asked. But as the war dragged on, his lack of leadership and failure to call for sacrifice meant we tired of his vision of a new world. We were not invested.

Leaders also have an obligation to admit mistakes and take corrective action. He fails badly in this area. Leaders must sometimes fudge the truth. He engages in fudge.

As you can tell, I find little about his leadership abilities admirable. His presidency has been a disaster. This is where he led us, often against the national mood and best evidence.

In my mind, I wonder why this question is even being asked.

hahaha...ohoh..ohoh...hahaha...oh my!

Leadership? What leadership? Successes? What successes? These past eight years will be recorded as among the darkest in the history of our republic. Surely, you must be joking. If not, one must ask, what flavor of Kool-Aid are you drinking? How can a the WP publish such rubbish in all seriousness? I thought that by now you might have learned your lesson, considering that the Post and the majority of the mainstream media failed to do its job when the Bush administration began its dirty work by invading Iraq back in 2003.

Bush is a blue-blood scarecrow. His only strength is that he accepted some time ago how weak he truly is; evidenced by his becoming Born Again. All he has tried to do has had a "half-assed" quality to it. Be it Yale, the Guard, being Governor, or President. When the going got tough, Bush got going on to something else and left others to clean up his mess.

I lived through Nixon and Reagan and there is no doubt in my mind Bush is far worse in most ways. This man and everyone around him were stupid, corrupt, immoral and venal. But there is a tough lesson we have to figure out: How were they able to maintain such a spectacularly successful propaganda machine for most of his presidency?

These are just a fraction of the deeds that lay at Bush's feet:
Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation
Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA
InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business
ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America?
Seizing War Protesters’ Assets
The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking
Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly
Iraq and Afghanistan Vets tell of rapes, torture, brutalities, and killing of non-combatants
American Psychological Association Complicit in CIA Torture
El Salvador's Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror
Bush Profiteers Collect Billions from No Child Left Behind
Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq
Radioactive waste from nuclear weapons are being dumped into regular public landfills
Cruelty and Death in US Juvenile Detention Centers
Indigenous Herders & Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction
Marijuana Arrests Set New Record
NATO Considers "First Strike" Nuclear Option
CARE Rejects US Food Aid claims the way U.S. aid is structured causes rather than reduces hunger.
FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs
Bush's Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer: The exposure of New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer's tryst with a luxury call girl may have been the result of a planned event. Timing suggests that Spitzer was likely a target of a White House and Wall Street operation to silence one of its most dangerous and vocal critics of their handling of the current financial market crisis. Spitzer wrote a piece in the Washington Post just weeks before the accusations against him emerged.

He and his ilk have destroyed the United States. The corporate and politial sows now lap up the waste. They should all be jailed!

George Bush is every mother's nightmare of a dumb child. Fortunately, he was born into money and was the benefactor of educational opportunities far beyond the reach of the average citizen. Otherwise, he would never have gotten past 1st grade, let alone master his own No Child Left Behind edict (hmm..). He can also thank his lucky stars that his father is such an intelligent and "politically connected man" that he was able to fund all of his
son's political ambitions, -which have since sent us down the perverbial tube-. News is that he hopes that son #3 will also follow suit (someone please look for the 3-6s on his forehead!)
G.W.'s performance as our nation's president has been bad enough to choke a starving python and has also left the american people feeling worse than Michael Vick's pitbulls after eight years of horrific abuse. Furthermore, his unequivical knowledge and expertise have left us in such dire straits that we are now nothing more than financial beggers to the world's greatest communist country, (yet we have forsaken any contact or acknowledgment of the island-nation of Cuba. Go figure).
George W. Bush also went on to surround himself with his father's former political / military service collegues who have since filled their deep $$ pockets, (via civilian company contracts),to the tune of several billion dollars a month. Yet, our dedicated men and women in the military -and veterans- have to stand in line and hope that their financial and medical needs are met.
The George W. Bush presidency has been nothing short of a dismal failure. However, all those who voted for him on two seperate occasions must also sholder the burden of responsibility, as well as those in congress who enabled him to do so.
That's the story and I am sticking to it!

President Bush kept you haters safe. Perhaps you all should attempt to contribute something of value to the country yourselves.

George Bush failed up his entire life. He got into Yale on a legacy, his business failures were bailed out by Daddy's friends. The Texas Governor's role is one of the lightest in the country (this is unrelated to GWB). When he would have been tested as a young man, Daddy's friends got him into the Texas National Guard unit known as the "country club" where by his own admission he was drunk a good part of the time. George was never developed fully as his own person with his own identity. The presidency was the test that Daddy couldn't fix and GWB failed. He lacked the knowledge, skill and abilities for the presidency.

My God are you generous in fining near anything positive about "the Liar in Chief". For starters the Libby leaks, as McClellan said, were fully orchestrated from Bush/Rove on down. Making us miss Nixon compared to Bush. And a many trillion dollar deficit for the benefit of the rich only ending in a collapsed economy.

My God are you generous in fining near anything positive about "the Liar in Chief". For starters the Libby leaks, as McClellan said, were fully orchestrated from Bush/Rove on down. Making us miss Nixon compared to Bush. And a many trillion dollar deficit for the benefit of the rich only ending in a collapsed economy.

Geo W Bush was without doubt the most ignorant, irresponsible and dangerous US President ever to occupy the Oval office during my lifetime.

If America is to recover,all Americans will need to take a greater interest in the quality and qualifications of candidates presenting themselves for election from now on.

Fortunately President elect Obama will set a new standard for politicians everywhere commencing Jan 20th 2009.

John Hay
Australia
www.tellingthoughts.com

It's a joke, right? Right? Right? You have got to be kidding me.

Is your question about W being a good leader legitimate? Or is it a joke? I will answer it as though you're serious.

CUTSPENDING commented by saying, he kept us safe. Well, that's not entirely true. He had received data in March 2001 and again in August 2001 that he certainly should have, at a minimum, considered seriously since it was telling him that bin Laden wanted to attack us on American soil. However, he ignored that data and as a result we awoke to 9/11. HE FAILED MISERABLY IN KEEPING US SAFE.

He then blamed Iraq for 9/11 and blatantly lied to us in order that he could receive our support while he sought to preemptively strike Iraq. He determined that our young people should fight to find WMDs that never existed and we lost over 4000 of them along with massive maimed soldiers, to say nothing of the monetary costs. THIS IS NOT LEADERSHIP ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CONSIDER HE REFUSED TO CHANGE HIS
PLANS OR HIS MIND!

He was a complete disaster with Katrina's wrath and failed miserably at helping those victims who are continuing to suffer with the poisonous trailers they have been forced to reside with many of their small children getting sick from the trailers. Besides, he was busy eating cake while celebrating McCain's birthday. THIS IS NOT LEADERSHIP; THIS IS SELFISHNESS AND LACK OF CARING FOR THE VERY PEOPLE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO CARE ABOUT.

He is incapable of leading a circus act, let alone leading our 'once great country'. After eight years of W, we will be quite fortunate to make a comeback in three generations because right now, we are almost as desperate as a third-world country. OUR ECONOMUY WILL NOT ONLY GET FAR WORSE BEFORE IT BEGINS TO GET BETTER, BUT OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN AND THEIR -CHILDREN WILL BE STUCK PAYING THE DEBT HE CREATED PARTIALLY BY FUNING THE IRAQ WAR AND PARTLY BY ALLOWING THE GOP TO CONTINUALLY DE-REGULATE THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY AND THAT IS NOT LEADERSHIP ONE CAN BELIEVE IN.

So in summation, he has been, without a doubt, the very worst excuse for a human being and the absolute worst POTUS which equates to NO LEADERSHIP.

He is a "Menudo" president, groomed by the party to advance the Republican agenda. Charming in his simple ways, determined because he was told it shows character, religious because he can freely kill people and still be on God's side.
He is a Sara Palin of sorts, happy to be in the moment, thinking he is making "tough" decisions but ultimately clueless and dangerous, as we all know,

Good on vision and persistence. Bad on outcome. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.

He was never a leader; but he is a fraud. The best you can say about him is that he made a good puppet. He never would’ve gotten to be President without daddy’s influence. He’s arrogant, ignorant, and not to be trusted because of his lying. Also, I don’t like him.

Leadership?

What leadership?

The man was a puppet.

Ummmm accomplishments??? That implies a positive contribution. None that I can see until today when he set aside a marine sanctuary. Other than that? What? He gave late night commedians free material? Made it unlikely that republicons will take the Wh for a few decades? I guess those are accomplishments in a round about way. He did completely discredit the entire ideology of conservatism. That is sort of an accomplishment - opening the eyes of those who could not grasp that obvious truth without disaster after disaster after disaster. The only real debate about bush's legacy is whether he will supplant Buchannan as the consistent choice for worst ever.

Bush is a man of conviction, but he is void of philosophy.

Other than a few precepts which are part of his essence, there isn't much understanding underlying his convictions. He never understood, nor cared to understand, the effects of his actions.

He has always lived in the bubble and has never contemplated the world outside. No hard feelings from George, it is just too bad for those of us outside.

What's to complain about? His backing of the Gaza Massacre will bring oil prices back where they should be; this reminds me of what Nixon did for us in 1973. Also, my second cousin Abdool's shoe emporium can't keep Turkish size 10's in stock. Fore sure, we'll miss Bush.

What's to complain about? His backing of the Gaza Massacre will bring oil prices back where they should be; this reminds me of what Nixon did for us in 1973. Also, my second cousin Abdool's shoe emporium can't keep Turkish size 10's in stock. Fore sure, we'll miss Mr Bush.

What an insult to real leaders to even suggest Bush is one. The 'decider' he is not, but the 'divider' and 'disaster' he truly is, along with the excuse for VP, Cheney.

Anyone with a cursory familiarity with George Bush's life and times before his gold-digging Texas handlers discovered him would have been struck by the unlimited ambition harbored by this severely limited man. Everything he touched turned into lumps of coal, no surprise there. What is unforgivable is Bush-41's monumental selfishness and utter ingratitude to our country which gave him so much, much of it on silver platters. [The ambassadorships to China and the UN, the CIA Directorship and the Vice Presidency were handed to him; he was not elected by the people to those positions.] He owed it to this country to act on the obvious knowledge he possessed of his son's utter inadequacy for the Presidency and to do everything in his power to set aside parental fealty and to see to it that George W. Bush did not fulfill his wild ambition. Instead, it appears he weighed the welfare of an entire nation against his son's ridiculous ambition, and found the latter more worthy of his indulgence.

I cannot believe that the WaPo still feels the need to suck up. How dare you put Bush and leadership in the same sentence. I have never seen anybody else make so many immediately turn off TV or radio as soon as they heard his voice. This man could not lead because he had completely lost the trust of the country by Fall 2005. Everybody following him got left in the dirt, except for his rich buddies.

F- seems about right as a grade for Bush -- anything higher would suggest you have been asleep the past 8 years.

An F(-) seems about right as a grade for Bush. Anything higher suggests that the grader has been asleep for 8 years.

Bush's strength as a political leader is his ability to convince about 30% of the US population, his "base". That, unfortunately, is also his weakness as he ended up with a bit less that figure that supports him. One of his strength is also the ability to lie to the American people with a serious looking face without blinking an eye - like the WMD, the "we are winning in Iraq" proclamation all the way until the day after the 2006 mid term election.

As an executive, he said it during the 2000 campaign, that he sees the role of a CEO is "to delegate". So he "delegated" the whole ball of wax to Dick Cheney who served whatever purposes Dick Cheney served but not the constitution and the public interest. W believes he does not have to know anything to lead and so he knew nothing about the real world except whatever his "higher father" told him, or whatever he thought his "higher father" told him because of his ideology and personal incurious nature.

As a leader, he did not lead since the people did not follow him. Put it this way, if he succeeded in leading the entire population to drink his coolaid, well at least he could lead even if he led them the wrong way.

To the extent he was elected by the people, they voted for him because of his "folksiness", and of course Karl Rove's dirty campaign. Remember the question asked in 2000 - which is more scarier: Al Gore in your living room every night or W in the White House. At the end, he even his folksiness became revulting.

Bush is no leader but I don't think he deserves some of the comments here. He's an idiot with daddy issues.

Cheney, on the other hand, ranks as one of the worst people in human civilisation - alongside Genghis Khan, Hitler, Pol Pot and Robert Mugabe. Maybe add the Knesset in there somewhere, somehow...

A horde of lemmings are probably following a "leader", right off the cliff! So what?

ZERO, one big fat one.

>

I laughed so hard I spilled hot coffee on my lap. Expect to hear from my lawyers by COB.

Well,I'm not sure there is a negative number big enough to accurately depict his leadership rating. What a sorry excuse for a president of the United States. Thank God the American voter recovered his/her senses from their huge mistake in 2004.

george w. bush and dick cheney will be sticking in my craw for years to come. bush is absolutely the WORST president in my lifetime and I can think of NOTHING GOOD he has done for our country. It has all been downhill since he became president.

His first order of business, pre-9/11 was to give that huge tax break to the wealthy and to allow cheney to set up a secret energy plan with oil and gas producers. It is, to this day, STILL secret. 9/11 gave bush the chance to be a GREAT president, but he blew it, along with all the good will and capital that 9/11 handed him from the WORLD!

bush and cheney chose to go with the neocons instead of the UN, the American people, and the WORLD! A HUGE mistake!

By the way, I am not a leftist loony as you right wing crazies like to call the opposition. I am a REGISTERED Republican who voted for Obama in November! Call me a RINO, but not a loony!

I'm French, and I apologize to all Americans who could take issue with my commenting on this revered daily.
This being said, I'll tell that, as a former military officer, I consider W. as an intrinsically true leader : this man is firm and consistant in speaking and acting and never gives up.
Trouble is, when the CinC is stupid, the troops get slaughtered. History has, halas, other occurences of that.
Happy N Y to all, happy new Administration for the sake of the free world.

He deserves no higher than an F. 30 minutes to clear out his desk, have the rest shipped COD to him via slow boat to China (aw, gee, did dumbya's stuff get lost? How sad. Go ahead and fill out a form for it), and be escorted by security out the door after his keys are confiscated.

dubya as a cult leader, as SANDIEGOBS alluded to, may be about right. There are those who slavishly defend him with no apparent benefit (DEBCHATTERGEE on this site) and those who are willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. He now goes back to Texas, not the swaggering Mission Accomplished dude with the sock implant in his unnecessary flight suit, but a mangy ol' mutt with his tail between his legs.

Welcome to reality, dubya. Don't expect a lot of speaking engagements.

I'm sorry but good people and effective leaders do not mislead countries into unjustified wars that kill tens of thousands of people or adopt economic policies that plunge the country into the worst decline since the Great Depression. Effective leaders also do not select incompetent bunglers like Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Tommy Franks for key positions or drive away distinguished public servants like Colin Powell.

Having been handed two nearly unparalleled opportunities to bring the American people together (narrow election in 2000 and 9-11 attacks), Bush squandered both with his divisive approach to the presidency. He is one of the greatest fools ever to hold the office of president, a man who tarnished the nation's reputation, damaged our credibility, diminished our military, and essentially wrecked the economy. At least Johnson and Nixon have many major positive accomplishments to their credit. Bush has nothing to show for eight years except one misstep after another. No, his is NOT the record of an effective leader or a good person, it's truly the record of a fool, a man who did not identify the key issues of the day and rally the nation to meet them. Just like his father, W lacks the "vision thing." Unlike his father, he also lacks the "competence thing."

George W. Bush, Jr. has been the most diastrous president for this country in modern history.
If a president could be indicted and jailed for extraordinary incompetence this woeful individual should be in jail today.
This country must conduct at least a judicial inquiry of Bush, Cheney, Addington (The Gollom of Government), Rumsfeld and that idiot Gonzales.
Their legacies should be written before Feb. 1, 2009

George W. Bush is a sociopath. He was raised in a home which was emotionally frigid by people who knew only privilege. Bush never developed any ability to be empathic, so everything he has ever done has been solely for profit, regardless of the cost in human suffering. He's also a liar and a cheat, clearly evidenced throughout his tenure in the white house. He has presided over the greatest ripoff in US history, the magnitude of which we are years away from fully assessing. He comes from two dynastic families, the Bushes on his father's side and the DuPonts on his mother's side. Both families have made it clear for generations that they scorn "the little people" and will do whatever it takes to make money; profit trumps life everytime for these people. Are there evil people or just evil deeds? I don't know the answer to that question but George W. Bush has certainly committed countless evil deeds. My fondest wish for him is that he spend the rest of his life in a prison cell contemplating what he has done.

President Bush's reaction to the 2004 tsunami embodied the essence of his character and failures. The entire world was grieving the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. There were no political considerations, no left-right split, no east-west split, no reason to ponder or stay silent.

Bush waits 3 days to offer his condolences and them offers to provide a paltry $3 million the help. I was ashamed for him.

The appropriatel rating for Bush is "failure". Bush isn't just a failed president, he is a failed human being.

After reading most of the comments, I got the picture that president Bush is unfit to be president. But what intrigues me is how he managed to be a 2 terms president.

dienh3161 wrote:

After reading most of the comments, I got the picture that president Bush is unfit to be president. But what intrigues me is how he managed to be a 2 terms president.
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That's simple. He wasn't elected even once. Both the elections were fixed. These events are well documented, though ignored by the media and the government. The computer programmer who fixed 2004 was about to testify in front of a grand jury to that effect when his private plane went down a la Paul Wellstone and he was killed. That happened 2 weeks ago, a week after being threatened by Rove not to testify. Bush was placed in office through deception and corruption (let's not forget the supreme court of injustice in Bush vs. Gore). Like everything else in his life, this job was purchased for him, and like every other bsiness he's had, he's bankrupted us.

Bush is a criminal. He has committed numerous treasonous offenses. He should be indicted, tried and when convicted, executed. It is amazing to me the number of prominent fourth estate men and women are carrying water for this miserable slug of a human. Our country is in peril.

Leaders come from being good followers. I remember my first admired Leader was JFK. He inspired a generation with honesty, hard work and doing what needed to be done while helping out others. Nixon was a crook. Ford was a follower of his Party. Carter was nice and like to do things with people as a partner. Reagan was a good acter who had the smartest people make him look good. Bush Senior was a wannabe. Clinton was using his experience from the JFK years but made a personal mistake that Republicans will never let anyone forget. Bill did bring back hope and savings accounts. George W. is/was nothing but put in office for others to run the Govenment. He couldn't lead ants out of an ant hole. Obama is this generations JFK and FDR. Obama gave America back to Americans with Law Makers kicking and screaming for the old school politics back. We will see many more Mark Felts in the years to come.

Mr. Bush never did govern and didn't understand that leadership is giving people something to believe in. His leadership style seemed to be very one sided in its approach to the needs of the nation. I think that his father and brother benefited from his policies and his rich supporters that purchased the office for him. The rest of the country was given canned speeches and nightly travelogues as he flew about the country delivering the truth according to George. Unfortunately, governing was left in the hands of people not particularly sensitive to the fact that they were shifting our wealth and jobs overseas. He and his supporters have turned out to be parasites that don't serve in the armed forces and don't really care about this country. We would be much better off without these parasites and I can only hope they leave with George.

cutspending wrote:

President Bush kept you haters safe. Perhaps you all should attempt to contribute something of value to the country yourselves.
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You are assuming that the people posting here do not already contribute. I have and do contribute to society as a health care provider offering low cost and free services, an educator, a media producer, and as a member of my community.
Ideological loyalty is the action of a non-thinker.

cutspending wrote:

President Bush kept you haters safe. Perhaps you all should attempt to contribute something of value to the country yourselves.
-----
You are assuming that the people posting here do not already contribute. I have and do contribute to society as a health care provider offering low cost and free services, an educator, a media producer, and as a member of my community.
Ideological loyalty is the action of a non-thinker.

cutspending wrote:

President Bush kept you haters safe. Perhaps you all should attempt to contribute something of value to the country yourselves.
-----
You are assuming that the people posting here do not already contribute. I have and do contribute to society as a health care provider offering low cost and free services, an educator, a media producer, and as a member of my community.
Ideological loyalty is the action of a non-thinker.

Bush, Cheney, Rummy and Gonzo are war criminals. They should be put in handcuffs right after Obama is sworn into office. What they did is so unamerican!

The Post shares responsibility with all the media that facilitated Bush and portrayed him well and influenced others to vote for him and to support his disastrous policies.

During Bush's watch several thousand Americans were killed on 9/11! Bush did NOT keep us safe! Then Bush killed even more Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush was the village idiot governor of my state for 6 years and before that managing owner of a perennial baseball loser. Millions of us in Texas tried to warn the rest of the country what a disaster this guy could make of America. He turned out to be a thousand times worse.

118 comments at least...only a couple anti-bush yet how many of you voted for him in either election?

bush is proof that anyone can become president...even if he is the worst of them.

The job of leadership has many aspects. Mr. Bush did well at considering the range of policy options, choosing and sticking to what he thought was the best. In most cases he selected excellent people to execute his policy choices.

Leadership also includes aspects of style and rhetoric. In these points he was weak.

To lead means to risk mistakes. His approach to dealing with mistakes seemed uneven. Sometimes prompt and straightfoward, sometimes neither.

If it was up to me I would have preferred that he put Greenspan in a cell in Guantanamo, depended more on Powell and brought Gates in as SecDef sooner.

Your discussion lacks depth and subtlety because it implies that a "good leader" is a good thing. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Castro were all great leaders whose leadership destroyed their countries. What constitutes "good" leadership? Bush was successful in getting his policies adopted through political clout, but his policies were driven by ideology rather than evidence, designed for partisan advantage, badly implemented by a series of incompetent subordinates, seldom allowed for meaningful dialogue, and undermined many of the foundational elements of our system of government. In what way is this meaningful leadership? Define your terms.

most self centered- destructive president ever
a dry drunk.

Bush not only divided the United States from the rest of the world. He also divided the people of the United States from each other. Just read some of these posts and see how we are at each others throats over his policies. He will go down in history as the 'Great Divider'. A president in my opinion should be someone who unites the people. He was and is the least moral president I have ever seen. He makes Richard Nixon seem like a choir boy and he makes all the rest of them seem very, very, highly educated. I have called him a moron and an idiot for the last eight years and now I will rest until he rears his ugly head again. Hopefully he will be tried for crimes against humanity not only for what he did to the Iraqis but to the brave young men and women of the United States who died or was gravely wounded, physically and mentally, in the war that he instigated.

What you see here is the power of rhetoric and propaganda over facts and reality. Many think if they believe something, then it must be true.

President Bush lead us through a tough war into victory. Perhaps he lost some to the difficulty of the task, but it was not his fault that they gave it up so quickly. Now they are angry that we won the war after they gave it up.

Too bad.

When Saddam managed to fool us for a while, many say the President lied. Not so. They also will say we expected cheering crowds in Iraq. Few expected it, even though it did happen in some places. We needed a better aid program that was faster and more responsive - but since then we have learned how to do that task.

Some say the military is "broken." They are strained. But when we replaced damaged equipment and give people rest, we will have the best trained Military in the world.

We have to rebuild the national infrastructure and adjust to new energy resources and smarter homes. With that and medical advances, we will have an age of abundance. That will be what the President is remembered for. He set us on the path to abundance and retained our place in the world order.

Good job.

Oh brother. Bradley and Woodward revealed themselves for the liberal stooges that they were. They castigated Pres. Bush over Katrina. Pleazzzze! That was a natural disaster of biblical proportions. They attacked Pres. Bush because of the stupid idiots who didn't head the warning to evacuate who then started crying that the welfare state wasn't taking care of them. Woodward and Bradley conviniently didn't mention that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen (ie, a city on the coastline that is below sea level). To attack President Bush over Katrina was really a cheap shot.

As for Pres. Bush's management style, did it over occur to these morons that a President is spread very thinly, and that yes he does rely on subordinates. Yet another cheap shot.

I thought it was outrageous what they said about Pres. Nixon. The man has been dead for 15 years, yet they couldn't pass up another opportunity to kick the man, even in his grave.

They then finished up by bowing at the alter of Saint John Kennedy. Pleazzze! JFK is a myth and a legend built up after his death. He botched the Bay of Pigs, let Fidel get entrenched, almost caused a nuclear war, and then got a crappy deal out of it saying that we had to accept Fidel 90 miles off of our shoreline. He also got us involved in Vietnam, but in the end Richard Nixon took the rap, and Bradley and Woodward just piled on.

Summed up, Woodward and Bradley are nothing but a bunch of liberal stooges. Why don't they just come out and admit that they are card carrying memebers of the Democrat Party, and that the WaPo is an annex of the Democrat National Committee??? At least it would be a lot more honest.

However, I will talk about Pres. Bush's leadership. After Sept. 11th he acted boldly and decisively and routed Al Qaida and the Taliban, which is a lot more than Saint Bubba Bill did. Let's contrast this with another liberal icon, Mr. Peanuthead. All he did with Iran was cower, and as a result we have this pest that we have today. Peanuthead should have bombed Iran back to the stoneage when they entered our embassy and refused to leave.

But I have it straight. Democrats good. Republicans bad. Yup, Bradley and Woodward are Dumbocrat stooges.

For those who feel George W Bush should have exhibited more of those star qualities inherent in the leaders of Hollywood, television, the news agencies, and the paparazzi-type newspapers, Bush failed miserably.
For those who understand that leadership has much more to do with actions than how you look, talk, and come off accomplishing those actions, Bush succeeded, and history will prove him right.
What we need now is a man who can get us off foreign oil, stand up to the Israelis to get the peace, create more jobs here, and show that hard work, not rhetoric or glitz, is the ticket to our collective dream. And I think we just may have the man to do it. Like all of you, I'll be watching.

I have only a few words that I feel represent Leadership and George W. Bush.

the man was never on the button, always off to the side.

A example is:
When he could not get his way by Law, he broke the Law to save the Law,According to Bush,s views and standards,then found pple who would do the same,setting the USA on course to near destruction as we see today,Destruction that has depleted every from of fairness, status, morality integrity,and honesty that the USA has prided itself on since George Washington himself.

If you are American and live overseas than you will understand, pple from other countries dont hate Americans they just HATE Bush and all what he stands for.

No all the good things he may have done have been undone by all his failures bigtime, there is no respect no tears that he is leaving just jubilation and pride that Americans back home did the right thing for not only the USA but for the World.

The Freemarket concept sold by Bush has destroyed the financial basis of our Country and millions are suffering NO THERE IS NO LEADSHIP QUALITIES IN GEORGE W> BUSH just a man full of blunders

Of course Bush is a failed leader. However, painful as it is to remember, Americans reelected him to a second term as we cravenly succumbed to his fear tactics instead of realizing that the terrorist menace is just one more hazard of life itself on a planet where extremists are able to mount commando attacks whose impact is wildly exaggerated by TV and the other media. To equate Al Qaeda et al with serious enemies who have modern weapons, professional training and unlimited financial resources is just plain stupid. Yet, Americans fell for it and the media never questioned it. As has been said "people get the government they deserve." Let's learn from the experience and start behaving like a people with some courage and spine and not expecting a government to "keep us safe" (are we children seeking a father-protector?). When 1 in 5 Americans die of cancer should we really be concerned about the "terrorist menace?" Come on, get real.

George W. Bush is clearly the worst president in our history. Bill Clinton left him with America as the world's only power, with the largest budgetary surplus in the history of the world, with very low unemployment, after eight years without a single month of economic contraction the whole time, and with the world at a level of peace that it has not known since the Lucy walked in the woods of Africa. Bush has destroyed it all, and in the process has allowed his cronies to loot our Treasury to the point at which we may never recover during my lifetime.

I hope to see the day when he, Cheney, and numerous of their underlings are hauled before the World Court to answer for their heinous crimes.

No president has ever come close to being as bad as George W. Bush. I would love to say that it is a tribute to the underlying strength of America that we have survived his tenure, but I am not certain that we have. America was the beacon of liberty, but now we torture innocents and conduct wars of horrible aggression, rendering us a pariah throughout much of the world. We unilaterally abrogate solemn and long-standing treaties and conduct ourselves on the international stage with dishonesty and bullying bluster. We are not the great, free, beneficial nation that we were before Bush took office.

He is the worst. Ever. Nobody else comes close.

I have lived long enough to remember Nixon. He is the worst president of the modern era. The worst part of it is, how many people supported this tyrant on his second term election. You only have yourselves to blame. You put the Republican party above the country and now the consequences are becoming more evident.

Bush - worst president ever.

Bush's only accomplishment was to set a record for number of vacations days. God knows how much more damage he could have done if he'd actually showed up for work on a regular basis. The guy couldn't organize a two car funeral procession without f'ing it up.

Lazy, corrupt, incompetent...this is not leadership material.

For sure, the USA will never have another leader like Bush. That applies to Obama, too. What are the American political parties and people "thinking?"

Worst. President. Ever. And a pretty bad media, including Woodward and the Post for enabling him.

This sort of commentary does a disservice, because it perpetuates the idea, as well as stimulating debate and traffic on the WaPo site (and presumably some ad revenue), that the Bush/Cheney, or BushCo Administration, did anything that was underpinned by principles of Constitutional authority or some greater public interest. I participate because at least we can still register disgust.

As for 'preventing' another attack on American soil, is that their only claim to some flash of competence? As the Polish proverb says, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Maybe if the secrecy of this administration is ever laid bare, and I've no doubt the document shredders risk overheating these days, we will see where these criminals were truly trying to 'lead' this country.

For this administration, leadership was about public relations, manufacturing a phony Christian cowboy persona for a man with apparently stunted moral development and a shallow understanding of the weighty responsibility of the office, who to this day refuses to acknowledge his administration's role in the decline of the US economy, our standing in the world, and our commitment to principles of democracy, due process, and international treaties to which we are a signatory. It was about using the levers of power to secure a republican majority for years to come. How fitting the era should end burying them in a landslide defeat. Let us hope that republicans bother to read and to learn some intellectually honest lessons from this chapter in history.

Can we dig a little deeper, please? Or is this a pitiful sign of how far we've descended with respect to political discourse?

Most people in this country would consider notorious foreign leaders such as Hitler, Stalin, the facists in Japan. Mussolini, etc. as being bad because of how their policies resulted in unnecessary suffering among other people, as well as people in their countries. Yet most people in this country, including historians and journalists, in evaluating our leaders seem to have very little, if any, recogition of how the policies of certain leaders caused unnecessary suffering of people in other countries. They only seem to consider which presidents had positive accomplishments or whose policies caused suffering to some people in this country, usually not including native Americans.

Taking a broader perspective, as is usually taken in judging foreign leaders, Bush's policies resulted in the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of people in the Middle East, mostly as a consequence of his decision to invade and occupy Iraq, a war based upon deception, as well as false premises. Had Bill Clinton or Al Gore been president, either would have likely ordered an invasion of Afghanistan, but not Iraq.

The Bush-Cheney gulags, even if relatively modest, significantly tarnished the image of the United States. Clinton or Gore would have not allowed the abuses of prisoners and violations of international law, certainly not on the same scale.

Bush and most of his advisers ignored warnings during the summer of 2001, which a few individuals took seriously, such as Richard Clarke, of an attack on our country. Had Bill Clinton or Al Gore been president, they would have taken such warnings far more seriously and the ensuing tragdy probably would have been prevented or at least minimized.

The disastrous choices of Bush will allow Clinton to loom with a more positive legacy. The controversial 2000 election will be considered one of the most momentous elections in a hundred years because of the stark contrast in decisions that would have been taken had Al Gore become president, as he was, in a democratic sense.

Bush will be considered overall as one of the four worst presidents so far, along with James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson and Herbert Hoover. However, the unnecessary wars of McKinley, Truman, Johnson and Nixon caused far more unnecessary suffering to humanity than Bush.

anyone who can speak of this administration without resorting to superlatives must have been in a coma this past eight years. i can appreciate the decent impulse to be polite, however there comes a point when cordiality becomes a cowardly attempt to avoid the point, and the point is that this president will forever reside in history as the unchallenged worst. if that title is ever taken from him, god help us!

As a foreigner I am wandering how come this guy was able to be elected as the president in the first place ? Unfortunately Peoples deserve the goverments they have. And in this case the whole world virtually suffered as well.
We hope that with the new president USA will try to make amends to make this world a better place for everyone.

for those that care to speak above the conspiracy and general dislike for his manner and way of speaking, bush's achievements include:

1. no child left behind. though imperfect, has been championed by those that are pushing educational reform (i.e., those without an entrenched interest in maintaining the status quo).

2. no attacks on our soil since 911.

3. success in iraq. regardless of what you think of the decision to invade and the handling of the immediate aftermath, most people agree that iraq is headed in the right direction. bush and his surge have to get some credit for the improvement.

presidents' legacies are formulated well after they return to private life. if in 10 years iraq is a shining example of a pluralistic democracy in the region and we start to see it have a positive effect on syria, saudi, etc., i think history will smile much more kindly on him than we think.

President Bush is without doubt a COMPLETE DISGRACE in all areas of his presidency. Not only is he INCOMPETENT but also a man who has NO problem misinforming, distorting, deceiving, exaggerating, and lying. And this from a supposedly devout Evangelical Christian man. By his own admission he is NOT a reader and knows very little about the history of anything. It's as if he is in his own fantasy island 24/7. How anyone can support anything this man has done as President is competely beyond me. And for anyone who indicates he has protected our country and nation during his presidency is without doubt a complete distortion and fabrication of all the credible evidence available.

Bush can be summed up as:
See Daddy, I can do war too, and I killed Saddam for you. Now will you love me? Please Daddy?

i can,t believe he's finally out ten more days probably the worst president ever, fooled most of the country after all they voted him in second time even if he didn't belong there the first time, leader hah, good one

Wow, most of you completely ignored the question and just spewed hate. What's the point? Bush was elected twice and his administration changed the country. His administration is almost over. Many of use agree that the change was for the worse but there are still quite a few dead-enders who absolutely love the man and will stay loyal to the end of their days. Some of them are embedded and it may take years for the Obama administration to remove them. They will likely monkey-wrench under loyalty to the Bush policies until they are removed.

But, the question was to look for areas of leadership strength not to assess the outcome of his policies. Some have brought up Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. They were effective leaders in their own right. Perhaps history judges them as failures but the failures come largely from outcomes not from efficacy of leadership. Each of these men, and Bush included, were effective leaders in some and perhaps many ways. We might deride the outcomes but somehow these men convinced people to follow them and not always at the point of a gun. Isn't that leadership?

To Alex511 who argues books won't be written - go to a decent library sometime. See how many books have been written about Nixon, Truman, Hoover, etc. I am sure some Bush administration flunkies will write books to put a positive spin on the administration. It is in man's nature. Look in the business section and see how many books are written on leadership in general. These books are not all about effective leadership. Some discuss leadership failures and how to avoid them. Given that discussions are already in place with Mrs. Bush, Dana Perino and others, I am sure some of those books will focus on leadership. Were I teaching a leadership course, I might consider these books if they could be folded into the curriculum. After all leadership is made up of successes and failures.

I still hold to my original thesis: two of Bush's most effective leadership skills were to gather an administration that was loyal almost to a person and to convince the conservative electorate that he had the goods to serve twice. Hate him or not - spew invective or think this out logically - this is leadership.

Everything else aside - at least we finally get a break from the smug, more-illuminated-than-thou people who hate everything western, southern, religious and working-class. Whatever faults Bush had, he gets blamed for far more than was fair. If I never have to read one more snide jab at "neo-cons" or sweeping blame on the "religious right" - it'll be too soon. Of course now, we'll get a whole new ration of bull from the other wing, who will blame everything on gays, athiests and the media. (Although the media are fair game - they provide fuel for the political poles so they can get ignorant quotes to publish in the newspapers.)

Here is the future for George Bush -

He will go back to the depths from whence he sprung.
Upwept, unhonored and unsung.

I always thought Nixon would be the worst president in my lifetime. But Bush beats Nixon by a mile.

9/11 happened ON BUSH'S WATCH.

Why does everyone keep giving Bush a free pass on this?

August 6 PDB - Bush ignored it and continued his vacation.

9/11 happened ON BUSH'S WATCH.

Bush did not keep us safe.

I agree that W is probably a good person and likeable guy. He is also probably a great and loyal son who was trained to follow along and ultimately broke through and did what he believed was right and righteous in terms of Iraq and the second Iraq war up to unseating Sadham Husein. I also believe that he BELIEVES that he has done the right thing.

I do not believe that he is an effective or great leader as I believe that others manipulated him at all points along the term of his "leadership".

I do not think that he was even in the loop on many of the most significant matters related to 911 and the subsequent war on terror.

I do believe that he is trying to do what is correct in passing the power and authority to the next administration and do not believe that he should ever be tried for treason or war crimes as long as he cooperates, even superficially, in the process to bring justice and closure to the greatest atrocities of the past decade.

His legacy is not at all important at this crucial time in history as what is crucial is salvaging our civilization and securing what true wealth still exists beyhond the smoke and mirrors of the failed debt-based economy of the past decades.

Kenedy tried to save us from the clutches of the Federal Reserve System but he failed to survive and this should be a lesson to all of us. Great plans and noble ideas are insignifigant if we do not survive. Our success will be how well we survive and how well we provide for the future generations.
All of the dead presidents and patriots cannot help us in this, only we the people can succeed and persevere.

IF the American people truly elected this man (Bush) and the administration that accompanied him TWICE, then there is no one else to blame. However, if EITHER or BOTH elections were stolen and fraudulent then this needs to be included in the healing CHANGE process so that it can never happen again.

The next administration truly has their work cut out for them and their current selections of cabinet members and agency heads indicates that they may very well be serious about bringing true change and accountability to Wasington and even possibly restoring democracy and returning our government to "We the People".

It will not be an easy or immediate process to do this as it is a very convoluted and complicated structure that currently exists. We need to allow these people that we elected time, trust and the benefit of the doubt and then hope that The Power of Righteousness, God (or whatever you may call that power greater than us) and all other powers of Good are on their side and that they can pull this great transition off.

God Bless America and all She stands for!

The really scary part is that we elected him. It is clear by now that George Bush was a horrible leader and I have no doubt that he will claim his prize of "Worst President in American History". The more interesting question, How this loser got elected in the first place? For anyone who bothered to look, all of the signs were present before the 2000 elections; poor student, failed businessman, military records that were conveniently lost. How did this man trick more than half of the American voters to vote for him? What will history say about us?

Without a doubt, the worst ever.

Bush was voted in because we were tired of the sleaze that Clinton was bringing to the Office of the President. We wanted someone clean to replace him. Gore represented the Clinton administration and was doomed. For the second term, we wanted to stay the course after being rattled by 9/11. After eight years, the only thing I can think of is 'be careful what you wish for, you just might get it'. We did and we paid the price.

Well he did lead. He led us into the Iraq debacle. He led us down twisted dark pathways of unjustified fear. He led us in ignorign the critical environmental issues or the day. He led the nation off the financial cliff. He led the charge in using hatered and divisivness for narrow cynical political gain. And he leads the list of worst failed presidencies in US history.

Bush will go down in history as the, "Straw President." His continued use of straw man arguments to make points will confound historians forever. Overall, his performance sadly to say was one of failure. Thank God this isn't high school as I wouldn't want to see him repeat.

Folks of all rationals and viewpoints should voice their views here and in every other forum they can find where they option to do so.

Look around, listen to others, watch what is really going on around you - GLOBALLY - and then decide. I know I have for years.

One word works for me - LOSER.

Bush should have spent 8 years in the bug house rather than the white house. He has made it clear that he believes he was anointed by God. There is some evidence that he believes he engages in direct, personal conversations with the Supreme Being. As a street preacher, he might have been a harmless nuisance. In the position of power he assumed, surrounded by his cutthroat enablers, he proved to be a dangerous sociopath.

The people who mention Hitler in these posts do not have a clue.

To all the posters from foreign countries who are putting us down, you take care of your backyard and we'll take care of ours.

We elected Bush twice. Perhaps now you think the Supreme Court was the "enabler"?

I will respect liberals when they start taking responsibility for being an American, and accepting all of America, not just the handouts.

And I will respect conservatives when they stay in touch with the entire country, and the entire world.

Right now I feel more respect for Bush than I do for most of you.

I wish we could out-source Bush and Cheney and the other criminals still walking around free. whatever happened to the concept of America being a nation of Laws and that no man was above the law?

It is also debatable that we (the USA) elected Bush twice - I think a more accurate term would be he stole the election twice - once in Florida and once in Ohio.

W is a good man. He truely made mistakes, but overall history will judge him in a much better light than many currently believe.

If I only had the good fortune to get cancer, to undergo multiple surgeries and become physically a shadow of my former self, and then to be cured, then perhaps I would really appreciate life. I would probably spend a lot of time being grateful for Bush and my cancer.

The worst president. Period.

GW Bush and "leadership" are mutually exclusive terms. Their combined use being correct only as the punch line for the long running joke known as the bush/CHENY administration.

If you were to title a book over the eight years of the Bush-Cheney Adminstration it would called "The Lost Decade." They have run everything into the ground: be it the economy, international relations, military affairs, and especially federal spending. When America finally come out of this eight year stupper we will ask ourselves; What happened to the rest of the world while we were gone?

Democrats don't be smugged. If you think we can "green" our why to zero growth prosperity, you don't live in the real world either. What Obama should do is to get back to basic and re-industrialize the once great economic power that is US. All these "talking heads" going on about "high-paying, low skill" factory jobs are gone forever and outdated proves they never worked on a factory floor. That is what the problem with this country. The US doesn't make anything in the modern techno economy.

The first decade of a new century wasted!

Danny L. McDaniel
Lafayette, Indiana

The Bush /Cheney years will be remembered with these 4 words:

Torture. Lies. Incompetence. Corruption.

Bush is, and will always be a vile four letter word. We are all Bushed!

MARCH 21, 1973
"I began by telling the President that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and that if the cancer was not removed, that the President himself would be killed by it." John Dean by remark to Richard Nixon in 1973. Dean continues; "Still hoping that Nixon would order all concealment efforts ended and the truth I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately because it was growing more deadly every day."
Ah for the good old days. These were the golden years when Nixon was forced to resign and could later reveal remorse. Unfortunately, the cancer was not excised and spread, throughout the body of the Office of the Presidency. It was terminal at the outset.
On January 22, 2001 and we witnessed a Presidency growing on this cancer.
This Presidency was brain dead on arrival. It has languished on life support. It lies at the hospice in a fetal position. Like Mr. Bush, we will feel no sorrow for the deceased.

January 12, 2009 - A Presidency is growing on this cancer.
John Dean allegedly made the following remark to Richard Nixon in 1973.
[MARCH 21, 1973 (MORNING). Still hoping that Nixon would order all concealment efforts ended and the truth revealed, Dean said, he put the matter as dramatically as he could. "I began by telling the President that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and that if the cancer was not removed, that the President himself would be killed by it. I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately because it was growing more deadly every day."
Ah for the good old days. These were the golden years when even Nixon could later reveal remorse.
Unfortunately, the cancer was not excised and spread, throughout the body of the Office of the Presidency. It became terminal
On January 22, 2001 and we witnessed a Presidency growing on this cancer.
This Presidency was brain dead on arrival. It has languished on life support. It lies at the hospice in a fetal position. Like Mr. Bush, we will feel no sorrow for the deceased.

He did everything exactly the way he intended- he and his cronies set out to rob our treasury, and they did. He started the war to make money just like his grandpa did. The rest was stolen by banks,insurance,healthcare,pharmas,oil,telecomms and power. He is a thief and lier. He should be prosecuted for war crimes and put on exile.

If anyone cannot see thier is something wrong with this man is as dumb and as stupid as he is I listened to his news conference yesterday and he got me sick the man when he was talking about Katrina and trying to defend himself was not the sign of a leader He was in the National Guard? you got to be kidding me and,he flew a jet? well than he ought to know that the men who flys helicopters are called pilots not drivers This man belongs in Bellveiw, it will take four Presidents to fix what this stupid ### ## # ##### did to this country and the soldiers that died for nothing OVER POWER? IT SICKENS ME

Why is Dick Cheney attending the inauguration? He is supposed to be in a wheelchair. No doubt he will be covered in blankets. What will he be concealing under the blankets? How close will he be to Mr. Obama during the ceremony. How sensitive will the metal detectors at the event be? Will the Secret Service have the nerve to search Mr. Cheney if they suspect he is carrying a concealed weapon? What does an ex-vice president with a bad heart have to lose? We already know what kind of man Dick Cheney is. I think the closest he should get to the inauguration is his living room in McLean, Va.