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President Bush's first term (may the second be better) daumco's OSTH II W/OFeb 07 '05 (Updated Feb 10 '05) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line I remember by the time Richard Nixon resigned it was tough to find someone who voted for him. I'm expecting the same thing for G.W. in the future!
FIRST TERM With the conclusion of the apparently successful recent election in Iraq, the emotions of the President along with Administration officials and their entourage have been quite heady, almost giddy, in fact I think I saw several exchanges of high fives. It is not surprising since this (other than winning the Presidential election) is the first positive news since the capture of Saddam Hussein over a year ago. Of course the orderly and relatively peaceful election (only a hundred attacks) in Iraq is a welcome event, however as much as the President and his administration would like the country to view it as a watershed event, looking at the election with rose colored glasses is unlikely to make it a harbinger of propitious times ahead. Instead I'm afraid a dose of reality is in order. Therefore for worse or worst I'm going to evaluate the Presidents first term. Admittedly I'm not much of a Bush fan so my views on the success or rather the lack of success during his administrations first term may seem somewhat skewed. On the other hand, in my efforts to overcome this bias, to some these same views may seem skewed in the other direction. In any event I'll try to be objective, respective and solemn as the Office of the President of the United States of America deserves but let me tell you folks, facts is facts and all in all the first term of G. W. Bush doesn't cut the mustard. THE ECONOMY The economy took a free fall when George W. Bush took office in January of 2001. True the sustained prosperity of the last eight years was starting to recede a few months before Dubya took office but once he did the economy went into a tailspin. It has now turned the corner and has been improving for the last six months. (35/100) TAX CUTS If you are making the big bucks you probably disagree but the fact remains that two percent of the taxpayers received ninety percent of the tax cut and to have a tax cut with two wars going on, with their onerous expenses (one and a half billion dollars a week) is shear folly. (10/100) EMPLOYMENT During Dubya's first term hundreds of thousands of jobs disappeared or relocated overseas. He was the first president since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs during this term. One of his acolytes showed their indifference to the working man by stating that outsourcing (sending jobs overseas) is a thing of the times and that in the long run it will be good for the country. (10/100) SECURITY (before Sept. 11) Despite his claims otherwise, there is plenty of evidence that Dubya and his Cabinet did not take the threat of terrorism seriously pre 9/11. This despite the fact that several knowledgeable people including President Clinton and the White House head of terrorism had importuned upon him that Terrorism was the most daunting issue his administration would face. (5/100) 9/11 This was Dubya's shining moment and probably the reason he was reelected. At this time of crisis he seemed quite presidential and the country needed that. He bonded with his constituency and would have gotten a 100 here if he wouldn't have flown all over the country before heading for Washington and taking a couple days to show up at New York. (75/100) SECURITY (after Sept. 11) Like many things, Dubya was at first against the Office of Homeland Security and only relented when it was politically prudent and expedient. He, through his Attorney General also foisted the onerous Patriot Act on an anxious American public, perpetuating a cloud of paranoia. causing runs on duct tape and plastic coverings etc. This was not and still is not being handled well. Instead of reassuring the fearful public that the odds of being involved in a terrorist event were about as low as being hit by lightning, they said nothing and continued spreading fear and intimidation with their verbiage and their silly color codes. (35/100) WAR IN AFGHANISTAN Yes, it was successful for a war and relatively painless but did it meet the objective, the stated goal was to get Osama bin Laden, the indirect assassin of three thousand Americans - Dead or Alive. Remember? (50/100) WAR IN IRAQ Our incursion into Iraq is misguided at best and illegal at worst. Each succeeding rationale for the war was bogus. There were no Weapons of Mass destruction. There was never any connection between Iraq and 9/11. There was no cooperation between Saddam and Al Queda. There were originally no terrorist camps in Saddam controlled Iraq, though there are plenty of terrorists there now. The rationale, after two years, has finally settled on spreading democracy in the Middle East, a form of nation building, (flash back to the 2000 Presidential campaign where Bush chastised Clinton for nation building in Kososvo) Besides the ill conceived idea of going to war with Iraq over nebulous reasons, there seemed to be no thought as to what to do after our successful blitzkrieg through Iraq. Chaos reigned as tens of thousands of Iraqis looted the country while coalition soldiers remained stoic setting a tone for lawlessness and ammunition dumps were left unguarded, where insurgents salvaged for weapons to kill our troops and Iraqi citizens. The President at one time bemoaned the military’s success saying they conquered Iraq too fast and didn’t have time to formulate a plan for the occupation. In the meantime the occupation has been an unmitigated disaster, with quadruple the casualties after the stated cessation of hostilities as before. Numerous critics from both parties and military experts have come forward with opinions of mismanagement and bungling ranging from too few troops on the ground, disbanding the Iraqi army, not securing the borders and weapons caches. (0/100) FOREIGN AFFAIRS President Bush had no previous experience in foreign affairs and it shows. Despite having an excellent Secretary of State (his best choice for a cabinet post) and having the good will of the whole world after 9/11, Dubya’s arrogant “my way or the highway” attitude not only managed to squander the good will but he also alienated most foreign governments and their citizens. A recent survey said that Bush would have garnered ten percent of an European vote. (0/100) ENVIRONMENT In everything he does, Dubya seems to put his friends in corporate America ahead of all other considerations and the environment is no exception. It seems that even though the environmental lobby has a tendency to exaggerate problems, they are in unison on their condemnation of Dubya as the worse than a do nothing President. It is said that his Clean Air Act, actually increases pollution. (0/100) EDUCATION I’ll give Dubya a little leeway here. Although those in the teaching profession, generally are not in favor of his Leave No Child Behind program and think it falls short, it is a step in the right direction. America does have a learning crisis and is losing ground to many emerging third world countries such as India, Maylasia, Korea and Taiwan, not to mention the powerhouses of China, Japan and Germany. (50/100) HEALTH Here again it’s whatever is good for corporate America. On one hand after stating he would look into obtaining drugs from Canada in his campaign Dubya has deemed them unsafe, even though they have the same manufacturer. Instead he has offered seniors a discount card they can buy which alleges a savings of ten to twenty percent. Meanwhile forty million, mostly poor Americans are still without health insurance and Dubya has decided personal retirement accounts have much more importance. (15/100) ENERGY How many times has President Bush said “we must cut our dependency on foreign oil and find alternative sources of energy”? I’ve given up counting. I’ve also given up waiting for him to follow through. I suppose he will when Exxon, Texaco and Chevron say it’s OK. (0/100) RELIGION The Constitution establishes the separation of Church and State. Our founding fathers were very wise in this, even though eighteenth century America was likely more religious and less diverse. Yet our conservative President who is supposed to be an advocate for states rights wants to make constitutional changes on behalf of his main constituency the religious right. I am not going to rate religion because it has not place in politics and while I may agree with their reasoning to some extent, this is wrong! CABINET APPOINTMENTS George W. Bush requires one thing from his associates – loyalty and I’ll admit he is loyal in return, Loyal to the point where it hurts his administration and the country. Dubya doesn’t pick the best person for the job. No his criteria is simpler than that. He must like them, they must not make waves and they must agree with him. Many of his appointments were from his father’s administration. George doesn’t like to fire anyone. Can anyone deny that George Tenet should have been fired after his “slam dunk” fiasco, and how about his National Security Advisor not advising him that there were terrorists around before 9/11. She didn’t have to tell him afterwards, he figured it out for himself. And how about Rumsfield and company convincing the President that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Iraq with a bunch of nuclear weapons and then proceeding to totally botch the occupation. Yes one thing is for sure if Dubya makes a bad choice he sticks with them, may even promote them like he did C. Rice. (25/100) Well he did pick Colin Powell. DEBT/DEFICIT(added) Two hundred billion dollar surplus into four hundred billion dollar deficit and a five and a half trillion dollar debt into a seven trillion dollar debt. Folks we're talking about some serious money here! (0/100) MILITARY (added) It doesn't take a genius to see that our military is stretched like a taut bungie cord. Fighting two wars and maintaining commitments around the globe means North Korea, Iran and anyone else who wants to cause mischief can and will. (0/100) AUTHOR’S NOTE Some of you may agree with my analysis while others take exception. This is expected, after all a few people voted for him in November and if you do, ask yourself do you disagree on general principles or do you disagree with some or all of the components of my analysis? I believe each component to be accurate but if you differ, I would like to hear your version. I originally thought that GW’s first term would be less than one star but he’ s doing such a good job that he instead managed a high one star rating. 80 -100 = ***** 60 – 80 = **** 40 – 60 = *** 20 – 40 = ** 0 – 20 = * Final Rating 310/16 = 19.34 = One Stars This is my forth and final entry into my own One Star is too High Write Off II. Anyone is welcome to join. For information visit my Profile Page: http://www.epinions.com/user-daumco/show_~View_Profile  |
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