The Legacy George Bush Will Leave

(CBS)  For as long as he's been asked about it, George Bush has publically professed to not care much about his legacy.

"I'm reading about George Washington, still," President Bush said in 2006. "My attitude is, if they're still analyzing number one, 43 ought not to worry about it."

And why would he want to, given the long list of targets he's presented to his critics, CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports.

The tragically weak response to Katrina, which will always overshadow the administration getting it right - like the last few days with Gustav.

No Child Left Behind, the president's education initiative that even some supporters concede is a failure.

An economy in shambles.

"He's in the bottom 10 to five presidents in the history of the United States," James Thurber, an American University historian, said.

But the president could take heart that none of those will be his defining issues.

"I think the assessment of President Bush begins not with Inauguration Day, but with 9/11, and then it goes to Iraq," said Ken Duberstein, former chief of staff for Ronald Reagan.

And there, even Democratic critics like Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institute, say the success of the surge in Iraq will help the President's legacy.

"He went to war in a deliberately cavalier way," O'Hanlon said. "But let's also be fair. Iraq now seems to be a quasi-functioning Democracy without weapons of mass destruction, without genocides against citizens or attacks against its neighbors. So to some extent, we gotta give our president his due."

Still, presidential legacies are by their very nature an exercises in comparison. If you want to understand the signature of this two-term Republican president, compare it to the last one.

"In 1988 with Reagan in the mid-50s in popularity, everybody was clamoring for a third term with Ronald Reagan. And now the only people who are talking about a third term for President Bush are the Democrats," said Duberstein.

It seems indisputable that George Bush will address the convention, greatly diminished from his previous appearances. If the first draft of history is written by reporters, the historians, like James Thurber, are about to get their turn.

"Well all presidents think that history will change perceptions of their activities," Thurber said. "I think history will be unkind to this man."

And it would seem they won't offer the president much comfort.

[vechibless]

'' .. god is odd, her one tentical is busy engineering a social machine made out of mosquitos and seaweed and such and five and ten year old girls and boys and such that is capable of building a forever out of a little bit of dirt and grass, even as another of her tenticals is busy waging wars that rape and kill mosquitos and seaweeds and such and five and ten year old girls and boys and such by cruelly utilizing market share and lunch money that otherwise would have belonged to mosquitos and seaweeds and such and five and ten year old girls and boys and such .. ''

[vechibless]

'' .. i like how people ''won''t give you the time of day'' unless you at least try to look and act like a starving slaving tortured mangled raped baked african war baby, but i do think they are being a tiny bit over zealous and cruel by leaving so many other alternatives ''out of the loop'' .. ''

[vechibless]

'' .. universes we swim and bus in is not comprised of silly theoretical ports to infinite numbers of divine places and times throughout forever and always, it''s just a flecks of dusts that oddly appeared temporarily in the middle of an otherwise endlessly vast oblivion of nothingness and nevermore and will someday disappear all over again .. ''

'' .. if most folk most time wanted to be self sufficient transient lazy naked lusty dopey kid subsistence farmets playing get well soon and feed the world while dancing round all the sick beds in forever, then they wouldn''t be paying me trillions dollars to paddle transient lazy naked lusty dopey kid subsistence farmet rears and to replace them with nuclear biological chemical stealth ray pow dare camp shock and awe armagedon holy holocaust extravaganza and to play get sick soon tax the world while disciplining and punishing all the folk dancing round all the sick beds in forever .. ''

[DixieLatino]

The worst president in US history, And he stole the election not once but twice.And when he leaves the Whitehouse for the last time please take those for Sale signs off the White House lawn.Our Government should never be For Sale Again.

[plainjean]

Bush''s legacy is obvious. What most people ignore is the simple fact that Americans voted for and elected this man not once but twice. Those who acquiesced and did so have blood stains on their hands which can never be washed away.

[morris61]

The Legacy George Bush/Cheney will leave.The disasters are too many to list.If Michael O''Hanlon thinks Iraq is so safe lets see him go outside the GreenPalace without the US Army.

[praiseallah1]

NOW will be calling for a National Boycott of US Magazine. Their continued sexist comments towards Sarah Palin is absolutely disgraceful! I have cancelled my subscription and have urged my corporate headquarters marketing department to cancel our advertising indefinitely in US Magazine and urge other clients to do the same.

I am a life-long democratic woman who supported Hillary Clinton along with 18 million others. I keep hearing Democratic strategists declaring that we "disgruntled Hillary supporters" will not vote for McCain simply because he chose a woman to be his VP. But this is NOT TRUE!

I along with thousands of other Hillary supporters WILL be voting for McCain and Sarah Palin because we WANT to see a woman as VP and voters like myself see it as a brilliant move by McCain to reach out to us women voters.

The TVangelists threaten us of Roe V Wade being overturn but fail to mention that both Bush administrations were Pro-Life and women still have the right to chose.

When Colorado Democratic Party leader Billy Compton intimidated Sacha Millstone asking her to resign as a Delegate because she had second thoughts on Obama was outrageous! When the sexist/racist Emil Jones called Delmarie Cobb who supported Hillary an "Uncle Tom" infuriates us women!

I am asking other Democratic women to join us in sending a message to our Democratic Party Leadership that THEY do not chose our Nominee by intimidating elected Delegates into voting for THEIR choice,

[actornaught]

Posted by praiseallah1 at 12:02 PM : Sep 03, 2008

Only rushbots would ignore the totally opposite politics between Hillary and Palin, and claim to switch from one to the other. Or a purely sexist borderline personality.

[actornaught]

Did he help the sales of "My Pet Goat"?

[praiseallah1]

NOW will be calling for a National Boycott of US Magazine. Their continued sexist comments towards Sarah Palin is absolutely disgraceful! I have cancelled my subscription and have urged my corporate headquarters marketing department to cancel our advertising indefinitely in US Magazine and urge other clients to do the same.

I am a life-long democratic woman who supported Hillary Clinton along with 18 million others. I keep hearing Democratic strategists declaring that we "disgruntled Hillary supporters" will not vote for McCain simply because he chose a woman to be his VP. But this is NOT TRUE!

I along with thousands of other Hillary supporters WILL be voting for McCain and Sarah Palin because we WANT to see a woman as VP and voters like myself see it as a brilliant move by McCain to reach out to us women voters.

The TVangelists threaten us of Roe V Wade being overturn but fail to mention that both Bush administrations were Pro-Life and women still have the right to chose.

When Colorado Democratic Party leader Billy Compton intimidated Sacha Millstone asking her to resign as a Delegate because she had second thoughts on Obama was outrageous! When the sexist/racist Emil Jones called Delmarie Cobb who supported Hillary an "Uncle Tom" infuriates us women!

I am asking other Democratic women to join us in sending a message to our Democratic Party Leadership that THEY do not chose our Nominee by intimidating elected Delegates into voting for THEIR choice.