also titled: Bush: What I Expected, What I Got.
Seeing as how Bush's administration is now over, I want to look back a little. Many people have criticisms of Bush, some strong, even venemous. My criticisms will relate to expectations I held of him, mostly from what he said while campaigning in 2000. I expect they will in large part be different from the criticisms others have of him. I voted for Bush twice, and although he has been better than his Democrat opponents would likely be, I must say I'm pretty disappointed.
On the economy: Bush described himself as a "compassionate conservative." Let's analyze that. He certainly has not been conservative, expanding government to huge proportions. If I recall correctly, we could repeal the personal income tax if we scaled back government spending only to 1999 or 2000 levels. That means Bush during his administrations has increased spending equal to the amount of money we pay in taxes. Wow. And all without raising taxes. How has he done it? By some magic wand? No, by borrowing and deficit spending, meaning that those of us who are young, and our children and grandchildren have to pay tomorrow for today's "compassion." Plus interest.
As I think about it more, he has not been compassionate either. Taking money from one group of people in order to give it to others is not compassion, it's favoritism. I don't mind senior citizens being able to find cheaper prescription drugs, but somebody has to pay for it somehow. We are all paying for it.
One qualifier I would like to add is that things weren't as great as they appeared when Bush began his administration. The dot-com bubble was starting to burst, and many of the practices which are leading to current problems were already in place; Bush just let them continue or encouraged them to grow. Additionally, we can't discount the impact of September 11 on the US (and world) economy. Remember, among those three thousand deaths were many of the best business minds in the world. I think we still have yet to recover.
"Compassionate Conservative" grade: D+
I also remember clearly the discussions about Social Security. Oddly, it seems we've been discussing the impending collapse of Social Security forever, but still nothing has been changed. Anyway, Bush's big idea was privatizing it, let people put more of their income into stock investments, etc. Sounded like a pretty good idea. Like all the "experts" he believed that the stock market would continue to go up. Oops. Now Gore's "lock-box" idea sounds pretty good--stop allowing Congress to rob Social Security in order to fund other pet programs. That would be helpful, and buy us some time.
Fortunately, they did nothing bad. But they've also done nothing to wean America off this ridiculous entitlement.
Social Security grade: C- (maybe Gore would get a B or B- on this one; hard to say)
Next subject: Education. Unfortunately Bush got the federal government more involved in education of American children. However, I must say, living overseas and being acquainted with Europeans, Asians, etc., Americans generally have much more freedom and educational choice for our children than others.
Education grade: C
When it comes to foreign policy I clearly remember Bush stating that he did not believe in nation-building and he wasn't going to use the military that way. To my embarassment, I believed him. Perhaps his views changed after 9/11. A lot of things changed. But this may be Bush's biggest broken promise of all. Here we are trying to build two large nations on the other side of the world, and it's not going that well, especially when you consider the costs involved. Going after al-Qaeda in Afghanistan was justified, but trying to build their nation and implant democracy there was not. It' s not what Bush promised, and it's not working
Anti-nation-building-grade: D-
Bush said in his campaign that he wanted to promote a "Culture of life" in regards to abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia and other similar arenas. I guess it hasn't gotten much worse. His Supreme Court appointees seem relatively level-headed in this area. He brought back the Mexico City policy. But he has done very little to promote said "culture of life," that is, to change personal convictions in this area. That is what needs to happen, and it didn't. And I really witnessed very little effort in this.
Culture of life: C+
I clearly remember in the debates Bush saying he would appoint judges who take the Constitution seriously, as opposed to Gore who saw it as a "living document." I can't say much about the judges Bush appointed-many were never confirmed or delayed a long time by Democratic parliamentary tactics in the Senate. I think they are better than Gore's or Kerry's appointees would have been. But I can say that it seems Bush did not take the Constitution seriously himself, with all of this executive orders, signing statements, the Patriot Act, wire-tapping without a warrant, etc.
Constitutionality: C
Protection of the "homeland" This wasn't really an issue until 9/11. But it certainly became THE issue at that point. Do you remember? We were all terrified, waiting for the next attack. NFL games were postponed. People were worried about the Super Bowl. Maybe before 2004 or 2008 elections, maybe after. So where has been the attack? I think you absolutely have to give Bush some credit for mobilizing security forces to ferret out potential attacks. The question is, at what cost? Waterboarding, wire-tapping without a warrant, pre-emptive war... Some of these tactics may have been effective, but I'm concerned. As an American living overseas, things get tense for us at times. It seems our actions have been turning more people against America, and that we will have threats for decades to come. And our freedom is being eroded to the point where a malevolent leader could reak havoc in America.
Homeland security: B-
no-call list. To me, this is Bush's legacy. In his first-term he created the national "no-call list" whereby people could register to not be called by tele-marketers. I did, and in the two years or so after that when we were still living in the US, I can't remember a single call. Maybe things have changed and they've figured out how to get around it. But while it lasted, it was wonderful. If you want something that will really improve your life, let me tell you, this is it. I don't expect government to improve my life much. But something like this falls under the constitutional powers of the federal gov't (interstate commerce), and gives me MORE liberty (I am free to clarify that I will not make un-initiated (by me) business dealings over the phone, and I wish to preserve my privacy). It's a small thing, but then again, maybe not.
No-call list: A
Categories: Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, Republican Party
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