What Was George Bush's Presidency A Failure

Political Science 111
Thursday 7pm
Research Question 2 Overall George Bush’s presidency was a failure. Although many people may not agree with this statement since he served 2 terms and was only the 4th republican ever to do so. George Bush left office with the largest surplus deficit in American history. His record of job creation, personal income and stock market performance was one of the worst in American history as well. Bush was also famous for declaring “Bring ‘em on”, directed towards al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, but failed to catch him. Bush failed to secure Afghanistan as well, making it the longest war in U.S. history; costing the country billions of dollars. George Bush also introduced the unconstitutional practice of adding
signing statements to new laws; using way more than most presidents had to. There were controversies surrounding Bush’s signing statements because Bush asserted that Congress cannot pass a law that undercuts the constitutionally granted authorities of the President. A “Blue Ribbon Task Force” found that Bush’s use of signing statements was unconstitutional, saying they “undermine the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers”. So if Bush didn’t think the bill passed by congress included unconstitutional provisions he should veto the bill not sign unconstitutional signing statements. Bush won passage for two major tax cuts during his term in office, The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. Bush believed the tax cuts would increase the pace of economic recovery and job creation. But to the contrary, many believed that the tax cuts were a major reason Bush reversed a national surplus into a major deficit. These tax cuts would eventually reduce the federal tax revenues to the lowest level since 1959. Bush insisted his tax cuts had shortened the recession he inherited, but the deficits they were running in 2004 were the largest in history. Another failure of the Bush administration comes from the No Child Left Behind Act. The act aimed to close the achievement gap, measure student performance, provide options to parents with children in low-performing schools, and target more federal funding to low-income schools. Senator John Kerry opposed the act saying that “Schools were not given the resources to help meet the new standards”. Schools were unprepared economically by the act as well. The House Education and Workforce Committee stated, “As a result of the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by Bush on January 8, 2002, the Federal government today is spending more money on elementary and High School educatation than at any other time in the history of the United States”. There is no data either to show that the No Chile Left Behind Act had any impact on academic performance nor significantly reduced achievement gaps, even as measured by standardized exams. Many Americans were unsatisfied with Bush’s job performance as it went on.
When President Bush first came into office his approval rating was up to 90% in 2001 and it dropped all the way to 25% in 2008. The reason Bush’s approval rating dropped so much is mostly because of the way he handled the war in Iraq and they way he handled the hurricane Katrina efforts. The decision to invade Iraq may be the most controversial moment in Bush’s presidency. The war drastically made the United States weaker and much poorer. The war was predicted to cost around 50-60 billion dollars, but that number is up to 2.2 trillion dollars and still rising because of interest payments. The two main goals for the war in Iraq was to eliminate two things: Al Qaeda and any weapons of mass destruction. Neither of those things could be found in that country. Perhaps the only good thing to come out of that war was the killing of Saddam Hussein. The war also took a toll on the troops. Over 31,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded in Iraq and the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been doubled because of this, making it difficult to provide for the ones who served. The way bush handled the travesty of hurricane Katrina was highly criticized. The failure of the government to respond effectively to the hurricane was perhaps Bush’s biggest setback as president. Howard Dean, outgoing chairman of the Democratic National Committee says, “Before Katrina, everyone, including America’s friends and enemies, believed if something awful happened in the world, you could call in the Americans and they’d fix it”. The way the government responded in delayed fashion to the hurricane killed that assumption. Kenneth Walsh of U.S. news stated, “Bush seemed slow off the mark as millions of people suffered, and he created a lasting image of isolation when the White House released photos of him, a solitary figure in his cushy seat, looking out a window on Marine One at the hurricane devastation far below”.
Bush was also reported as praising Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to doing a “heck of a job”, even though they screwed up the disaster response. Bush supporters claim he was doing the right thing by not acting immediately because it could have complicated the ground relief efforts. However not to act as thousands of people were suffering definitely took a toll on how people looked at him as a leader and a decision maker. However, there were some successes in President Bush’s presidency as well. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was one such success. This was Bush’s big comeback against the problem against the AIDS epidemic. In a 2009 Stanford University study the program has been discovered to have saved a million lives in Africa and HIV/AIDS rates declined by 10 percent in countries being funded by the program. Bush was also successful in his tsunami relief of the Indian Ocean. He lead fundraising efforts and was able to come up with over a billion dollars for the relief effort. Sixteen thousand US military personnel, dozens of US ships, and more than 100 aircraft were dedicated to the tsunami recovery. Bush made a big impact in marine protections. In 2006 Bush designated a group of remote Hawaiian islands as the world’s largest marine reserve. The area is home to 7000 different species of marine life including some endangered species. By 2011 diving in the area and all fishing will be eliminated. Another accomplishment from President Bush was to bring more racial and gender diversity into the U.S. branches. He appointed more women and minorities to high-level posts than any other president in history. Overall I would say that the President Bush administration did not improve the lives of ordinary Americans. Andrew Malcolm of news.investors.org says, “When Bush left office after eight tumultuous years, including 9/11 and the Iraq War, 66% of adult Americans disapproved of him, twice as many as approved”. Many Americans hated George bush for leading us into a war that turned out to be unjustified in Iraq. Many Americans hated George bush for ruining the economy as well. He tried cutting taxes while fighting two wars which put the United States into a huge financial crisis were still recovering from. George bush was also hated for his abuse of President Signing Statements. This states he has the right as president to violate any section of a law, should he deem it in national interest to do so. George Bush is hated by Americans for his disrespect for liberty and the U.S. constitution. He attempted to suspend and permanently abolish right of Habeas Corpus. Professor Tremblay, of the University of Montreal states, “The Bush administration argued to the Supreme Court that they had the right to establish concentration on U.S. run properties around the world and hold prisoners indefinitely with no legal recourse, especially at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, President George W. Bush had the gall to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision while on a trip to Europe”. Bush will also be remembered as being the president who authorized torture and indefinite detention of prisoners, after willfully suspending rights accorded prisoners by the Geneva Conventions.