David Shuster: "Despite a growing economy and job growth..."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5445086/

Similarities between Bush and Truman (David Shuster)

If you've been watching Hardball, you've seen some of our reports that dip into the vast NBC archives to put current political events in perspective with previous presidents, lawmakers, and etc. I'm excited to tell you that we are going to offer some of those same stories here on our blog. For example, for Hardball I've been working on a report that compares the challenges President Bush is facing with those of Harry S. Truman.

Truman was our 33rd President. He took over following the death in 1944 of President Roosevelt and had to deal immediately with a host of foreign policy issues. The video we have is remarkable. There was the conclusion of the war in Europe, the Potsdam conference when allied leaders (Truman, Churchill, Stalin...) decided how to handle a defeated Germany, and the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan. Three years later, in 1948, Truman held on to the Presidency by just four percentage points. Last fall, after four years dominated by 9-11, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq... President Bush held on to his presidency by three points. Like President Bush's critics, Harry Truman's considered him not up to the job of President. Truman was a folksy man who popularized simple phrases (i.e. "The buck stops here.") President Bush is a folksy man who tends to see the world in black and white.

There are other similarities as well... Despite a growing economy and job growth, President Bush's approval rating is falling because of problems in Iraq. President Truman's approval fell even lower because of the war in Korea. President Bush felt the sting of allegations that his White House leaked classified information. President Truman was hurt by allegations that his State Department was riddled with communists.

Today, historians regard Harry Truman as one of our nation's best Presidents. His huge U.S. investment in rebuilding post-war Japan and Germany paid off... and Truman's policy of containing Soviet expansionism was a role model throughout the cold war. The question with President Bush, of course, is whether his huge war on terror investment in Iraq will pay off and whether history judges him to be a treasured President like Truman or somebody regarded far less.

[elehhhhna]

1. job growth. another BIG LIE.

[Bob3]

2. shuster has to be stoned to the gills to write this drivel

Sorry I love to say drivel.

And what is it about comparing * with democratic presidents? yesterday in USA Today it was FDR and now it was Harry Truman. Jesus if there was anybody who * is less like, it is Harry Truman. - and Shust baby it's best you not bring up "the buck stops here" with * since it is so very very obvious that nothing nothing ever stops in the oval office.

There maybe one similarity - public dissatisfaction over the way the Korean war was going was one of the reasons Harry decided not to run again

[chaumont58]

7. Harry Truman was the first President I was aware of

I was 10 years old in 1948, when he pulled off the mother of all upsets. What a happy moment for a 10 year old Oakie stuck in repuke land. I loved it. Just remembering it brings pleasure.
Truman was a remarkable man, and a remarkable President. I don't think he gets the press he deserves.
Back in 2000, Time magazine ran '100 top people' stories to celebrate the new century and millennium. For politicians of the 20th century, Raygun was included and Truman left totally out. I was irate, and wrote TimeLife a nasty email, which, for my troubles, was promptly ignored. I did get a measure of satisfaction, though. CSPAN had commissioned a study, done by most the top US historians, to rate all Presidents, except the then current, Bill Clinton. The top US historians rated Truman fifth, behind Lincoln, Washington, and the two Roosevelts, of all American Presidents. Raygun was rated somewhere in the middle.
I've read two books on his life. The bottom line on the man from Independence is that he did good every where he went.
This country has been extremely fortunate to have men of the caliber of Truman, Lincoln, Washington, the two Roosevelts, serve as President at a time when greatness was needed. Indeed, one can look at the way the selection of Truman occurred in 1944, and think it was all total luck. Truman was not well known outside the Senate and his home state. He was a very good Senator. His committee saved hundreds of millions, routing out corruption in the war effort.
To include chimpies name in the same sentence with Harry Truman is blasphemy.

[Chef]

3. Truman

Nothing in this world makes me more angry than some asshole mentioning Harry Truman in reference to any Republican, especially Bush. I nearly stroked out when this piece of crap was aired last night. Fortunately, when the "Buck Stops Here" saying came up, one of the talking heads made the point that with this administration, buck doesn't stop anywhere since they haven't taken resposibility for any of their disasters.

[grumpy old fart]

4. Talk about your apples and oranges.......Sheesh!!!!!!!!

Truman inherited the end of a popular war, fought with real allies. Bush STARTED a war and invaded a country, with NO allies.

BUSH leaked confidential information. State Department employees, not controlled or appointed by Truman, were accused of being communists in a witch hunt.

Truman presided over a growing economy. Bush has created the largest Deficits in history.

How do these relate????

[welshTerrier2]

5. great picture of bush !!

that's a great picture of bush you included in your post ... you know, most of us are not trained psychiatrists ... but we do look at people all the time ... we develop a sense of what sane people look like ... look at bush's eyes in that picture and tell me how anyone can say he is not deranged ... something is clearly wrong there ... that facial expression does not reflect a normal human emotion ...

and as to comparing bush to Truman, Shuster might as well have described the sighting of several Martian spacecrafts circling Crawford ...

[Halliburton]

6. yeah i'm sure

people are really enjoying the window-washing job at their local best western.

[kodi]

8. truman was an honest man, bush is a lying sack of shit. end of comparison

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