WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2008
The Legacy George Bush Will Leave
CBS Evening News: Historians Review The 43rd Presidency As His Terms Wind Down
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Play CBS Video Video George W. Bush's Legacy President Bush has often downplayed his legacy and, as Jim Axelrod reports, he may hope others do the same.
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President Bush delivers the State of the Union in January, 2008. (CBS)
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Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
"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.
"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.
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'' .. 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 .. ''- Reply to this comment
'' .. 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'' .. ''- Reply to this comment
'' .. 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 .. ''- Reply to this comment
- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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, - Reply to this comment
- 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. - Reply to this comment
- Did he help the sales of "My Pet Goat"?
- Reply to this comment
- 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. - Reply to this comment
- JUST WHAT WE NEED, A NUTJOB THAT YEARNS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, SEES WAR AS GOD''S COMMAND, AND WITH ACCESS TO THE NATION''S NUCLEAR TRIGGERS. IF YOU PEOPLE ARE THAT STUPID TO VOTE FOR WW3 AND A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST THEN YOU ARE BEYOND HELP!!! WAKE UP PEOPLE, YOU ARE VOTING IN A WACKO WITH A GLOBAL DEATH WISH!!!!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
QUOTES FROM HER PASTOR:
Jesus called us to die. You''re worried about getting hurt? He''s called us to die. Listen, you know we can''t even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode."
Kalnins has preached that the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq were part of a "world war" over the Christian faith, one in which Jesus Christ had called upon believers to be willing to sacrifice their lives.
He preaches repeatedly about the "end times" or "last days," an apocalyptic prophesy held by a small but vocal group of Christian leaders. During his appearance with Palin in June, he declared, "I believe Alaska is one of the refuge states in the last days, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to the state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them." - Reply to this comment
- Here is a man (?) who said God told him to be president-- took the oath of office by placing his hand on a Bible and lied about promising to uphold the Constitution.
Bush will place his hand on a stack of Bibles and lie yet again that his lies weren''t lies.
The religious right deserves what Bush has to offer, but the rest of us didn''t.
I haven''t seen such a despised president since Nixon and he makes Nixon look like Mother Theresa.
His moral disaster has dishonored and humiliated America and the people of America and offended many other countries.
God I would love to see these terrorists holding us hostage in a constant threat of war--brought up on every crime they have committed. - Reply to this comment
- Shrub the Dumbnificent and Darth Cheney, the worst administration in the history of the US. What a pathetic duo they turned out to be....history is not going to be kind to these two idiots.
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- Not since Nixon and Agnew (both run out of office in shame) have we had such a Disgusting Dynamic Duo as we have with Bush and Cheney.
Their Legacy will end with the phrase: %u201C%u2026and they got away with it%u201D - Reply to this comment
- with 650''000 & 4000+ needlessly dead iraqis and americans, we should be talking about litigation, not legacy.
the world would have been a better place if gwbush had taken up gardening instead of poliics.
it''s an american tragedy. - Reply to this comment
- purchased4
You must have drank a Keg Of the Bushco Kool-Aid.......... - Reply to this comment
- President Bush is the worst President this country has ever had. History will show that he was a disastrous leader and a disgrace to this country. He is the one President that I wish we could do like the old Soviets would do, just remove him from history. His service in the White House has brought this country to its knees and ruined our image around the world. We went from a respected wealthy nation to a dispised, poorly managed nation who has to borrow money from the Chinese to fight a war. Don''t fool yourself he is trying to reduce the number of troops because it is the right thing to do it is because he can''t borrow any more from the Chinese.
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- legacy? bush? you can''t leave what you can''t spell
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- I think President Bush has done a job that most americans couldn''t even dream of accomplishing. He is probably the most criticized person on the planet, but he doesn''t let that bother him. I think that the War was nesccesary(yes. Iraq making weapons of mass destruction, ties to afghanistan insurgents, known terrorists w/ connections to Bin Laden...nesscessary for our freedom). As Commander in Chief, he did his duties by keeping America safe, which many people don''t believe, but that''s their own ignorance. I Thank President Bush for following the presidents before him and protecting our country when threatened.
No Child Left Behind Act enforces teachers make sure every child is on the same level. This changed drop-out rates, and the amount of children who were held back because the couldn''t get the help they needed, because teachers didn''t have to. I know that when I was in school, it was fail and then get help next year. Thank you for caring for our children.
President Bush has stood on all his desscions, even when being scrutinized by the toughest critics, and not being afraid to veto a bill which could hurt us.
Thank you President Bush for not being perfect. We can look back at your presidency like all the others. Mistakes and Success. - Reply to this comment
- Let the facts speak for themselves.
935 lies.
$3 trillion squandered.
Over 4000 Dead American troops.
Halliburton stock went through the roof.
Bush went looking for fake WMDS in Press Club dinner in DC, dancing in New Orleans, and partied in daughter''s wedding extravaganza.
While thousands died in his war in Iraq.
Great legacy, Mission accomplished. - Reply to this comment
