Bloomberg: B*sh Presidency heading towards "History's Dustbin"

[npincus]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a6WcY1yLpokg&refer=us



Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- George W. Bush came to power in 2001 vowing to make his mark on history by overhauling taxes, pensions and schools. Instead, an item not on the original agenda -- the war in Iraq -- may consign him to the bottom tier of U.S. leaders.

That's the view of a number of historians and presidential scholars, who say that unless Bush's decision to inject some 20,000 more troops succeeds in quelling sectarian violence, he risks joining the ranks of such poorly regarded American leaders as James Buchanan and Warren G. Harding.

``Iraq has done enormous damage'' to Bush's standing, says Robert Dallek, the biographer of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Bush, he says, will rank ``somewhere at the bottom.'' Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas in Austin, says Bush's effort to reverse the course of events in the war is ``his last chance to avoid the dustbin of history.''


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Hargrove predicts Bush will probably go down in history as ``one of our worst presidents,'' his reputation dragged down by Iraq in much the same way that Vietnam consumed Lyndon B. Johnson's. But unlike Johnson, who is credited with the Great Society web of social-welfare programs and for advancing civil rights, Bush, Hargrove says, ``has nothing to counter-balance Iraq.''

[WI_DEM]

1. No surprise there--everything he's touched as president, just

like in his life before the presidency has turned to ash.

[shain from kane]

2. Cesspool.

[thereismore]

A pitiful, almost apologetic splash in the latrine. nt

[thereismore]

3. Tell me one thing he's done that's good! Anyone? nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Nearly choked to death on a pretzel. Other than that, -0-

[Parche]

4. dustbin

Isnt that what Maurice called Darrin Stevens on Bewitched...."Dustbin"???

[screembloodymurder]

5. I've known them all

Bush is the worst.

[NewJeffCT]

6. he has the war in Afghanistan to counter-weight Iraq

I mean, he declared victory there in 2004. Everything is peachy-keen there, right?

[Nite Owl]

7. He's right about Johnson too

He did some great things as President but * has nothing, absolutely no accomplishments at all. Well I suppose some of the top 2% may look on him fondly every April 15th but not the other 98%.

[Pab Sungenis]

8. Nope. I call bullshit.

Instead, an item not on the original agenda -- the war in Iraq -- may consign him to the bottom tier of U.S. leaders.

Bullshit. The war on Iraq was on his agenda before he was even sworn in. They were planning for it not only from day one, but from day -365.

[brazos121200]

9. We've had some pretty bad Presidents in my time, but of

all the other Presidents who have been involved in wars, both good and bad, only Bush has started a war based on lies and deception on his own, rather than joining a war already ongoing. Then, all the other Presidents at least had the decency to win the war. Lincoln had the civil war but the Union won. Lyndon Johnson got us involved in the Vietnam War but was still fighting it when he left office. Richard Nixon inherited the Vietnam war and ended up withdrawing our troops. Woodrow Wilson got us involved in World War I but at least had the decency to win the war. Roosevelt got us involved in the Second World War due to Pearl Harbor, but in the end we helped win the war. Eisenhower inherited the Korean War and we got a draw.

Only this President has started and lost a war all by himself in his term of office. He will go down in history as a monumental failure.