Tag: one of America’s worst presidents

Recalling the George W. Bush Presidency

Remembering one of America’s worst presidents!

It appears that the folks in South Carolina have forgotten some major events that occurred when George W. Bush was president. Not all were his direct fault but he and his administration, in my opinion, did not take sufficient precautions.  I did not have to refer to any publication or website for these occurrences. They are all clearly in my mind.  They should be in yours too. 

  1. September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City did occur eight months after he was inaugurated into office. The prior administration had warned of a possible terrorist attack.
  2.   Hurricane Katrina occurred on the morning on August 29, 2005. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale–it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across the Gulf coast. The History Channel says “Officials, even including President George W. Bush, seemed unaware of just how bad things were in New Orleans and elsewhere: how many people were stranded or missing; how many homes and businesses had been damaged; how much food, water and aid was needed. Katrina had left in her wake what one reporter called a “total disaster zone” where people were “getting absolutely desperate.” The Bush administration was widely criticized for its slow response to the disaster.
  3. The invasion of Iraq occurred in the spring of 2003, the United States invaded Iraq in order to overthrow leader Sadaam Hussein (1937-2006), whose regime was accused of supporting international terrorist groups and possessing large caches of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). No WMD were found. 4,486 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.
  4. He began his presidency with a federal budget surplus; however, factors such as the enormous cost of fighting two wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) and the broad tax cuts led to annual budget deficits starting in 2002.
  5. The 2008 financial crisis was the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. The president was mostly absent from the efforts to save the economy. Instead it was his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, who made requests to congress for funds to support the banking industry.

Perhaps the above listing of George W. Bush’s major administration failures would be a reason to suspect another Bush would not be welcomed to the White House.

An Incompetent President

I have always voted for the Democratic Party presidential candidate so this commentary was an unpleasant task.

It is not unusual to believe the current president of the United States is incompetent. I cannot recall one that received my appreciation while he held office. Presidents usually receive their lowest approval numbers in the last two or three years of their second term. So perhaps it is not unexpected that I too do not approve of Barack Obama’s presidency.

The difference is that I believe he will be listed as one of America’s worst presidents. The honor for worst, in my opinion, is Jimmy Carter. The reasons Barack Obama #3 be addressed in another column.

President Obama came to office when the country was in economic collapse. It was not his fault. We have the Bush administration to thank for that horror. Banks were on the verge of bankruptcy, many large companies were experiencing rapid declines in sales that were jeopardizing their very existence, unemployment was at 7.2% and falling, home foreclosures were massive, etc.

What did the president do? He proposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, his $800 billion stimulus bill for a $14.57 trillion economy. Was that enough? I don’t think so. Many economists said the stimulus should have been twice his proposal. The money was to be spent on “shovel ready projects.” There just weren’t very many of those projects immediately available. Although the administration claims that law created jobs the reality is the unemployment rate continued dropping through October 2009 to a rate of 10.1%. That rate did not decline to 9.5% until June 2010.

In the meantime the administration pushed his health care law (Affordable Care Act: AKA Obama Care) that has yet to prove its value in any significant way. That was the wrong focus. The introduction of that new program was a disaster. It is his signature program and yet it was not given the attention needed to accomplish a near perfect launch.

In other domestic issues he has been late to the table. Veteran’s Administration, gun regulation, domestic spying, immigration, and massive outsourcing of jobs are the issues that come to mind.

In foreign affairs the president has pulled back from every situation in the world. From drawing a red line in Syria, to a too fast draw down of troops in Iraq the president has not considered the unintended consequences of his decisions. Today Islamic terrorists are threatening Iraq, Syria, and many African nations. Now we are faced with thousands of children entering our country from Central America. He didn’t see the issue of thousands of children entering the country until the situation has become overwhelming? How can that be?

What we have here is a reactive presidency rather than a proactive presidency . The president reacts to situations. CNN and FOX seem to know what is happening before the president. He does not initiate attention to an issue.

Americans want their president to initiate the steps to resolve issues even before the public is aware. This is not a characteristic that can be evaluated until a person is holding the office of POTUS.

Barack Obama was the wrong choice for president. Sadly the Republicans did not offer Americans a good alternative. Perhaps this column should have been titled “America’s Broken Political System.”