Newspaper OpEd (2007)

Robert P. Watson

Bush’s Legacy

One of stories of the 2008 presidential election that has taken a backseat during this competitive campaign is that the end of the Bush presidency is near. As such, historians will soon begin the task of pouring through the documentary evidence of the Bush years in order to assess his standing among presidents.

There are many tools and approaches employed by professional historians in evaluating presidents, but in the end three basic questions are asked: Is the office of the presidency better off, is the country better off, and is the world better off because of the president? We are told that Bush is now interested in these questions and that his aides are worried about his legacy. And for good reason. Bush is not going to like the answers to these questions. Let us take a preliminary and cursory look at the record.

The primary issue that will define Bush’s legacy was one of his own choosing: Iraq. Bush invaded Iraq as a war of choice, not one of necessity. Not only did the President get it wrong on Iraq, but he then completely mismanagement the war. We now know that Bush duped the public, fabricated the case for war, cherry-picked intelligence, dismissed his generals, and ignored the advice of the 9/11Commission and Iraq-Study Group.

Another legacy issue is Bush’s international record. The fact that he did not sign one significant treaty, yet unilaterally withdrew from important international agreements and single-handedly reduced America’s standing abroad to the lowest point in our history bodes poorly. Bush’s "us versus them" view of the world proved to be self-fulfilling, and we now stand virtually alone against extremists in the Middle East who were further radicalized by the President’s actions and policies. 

On the domestic front, Bush’s slim legislative record includes notable failures on two of his grandest ideas and biggest challenges – reforming Social Security and fixing the nation’s broken immigration system. The President will leave behind record deficits and debt, and one of the worst economic records since Herbert Hoover wrestled with the Great Depression. Indeed, Bush’s promise to be a "compassionate conservative" rings hollow. The gap between rich and poor ballooned on his watch, he opposed increasing the minimum wage to a livable level, and he was utterly disinterested in the nation’s health care crisis.

Politically, the President disregarded his campaign pledge to be "a uniter, not a divider." Instead, he will leave behind a nation more divided than any time since the Civil War. Bush opted for the low road, governing on fear and division, while demonstrating an inflexibility and penchant for secrecy and lies. Wrapping himself in the flag, Bush boasted of being a "war president" and dismissed any critic as unpatriotic. But his words never squared with his actions. This Commander-in-Chief flippantly ignored the Constitution, dismissed the importance of civil liberties, and failed to provide adequate armor for our troops in the field or adequate benefits for our veterans in hospitals.

One of the barometers of a president’s priorities is the veto. It is telling that Bush allowed a nearly unprecedented number of pork-laden spending bills to pass his desk, and then, late in his presidency, chose a measure advocating stem cell research designed to cure debilitating diseases to be his first veto. He followed that by vetoing a bill calling for a realistic draw-down of troops in Iraq and a bill to provide children’s health care.

Still, perhaps the most damning charge against Bush will be his leadership style. Bush proved to be utterly disinterested in the details of issues and dismissive of advice and facts that contradicted his own simplistic views. His near-Messianic certainty in his own righteousness and "gut feeling" precluded his Administration from conducting any serious policy analysis or reaching out to others, be they allies abroad or supporters in Congress.

With just over a year remaining in his presidency, the question becomes not what Bush will do but whether he can do anything at all. The President’s credibility is eroded to the extent he has become, at best, an impediment to the policy process and, at worst, irrelevant to it.

Although it is rare for historians to weigh in until years have passed, many are already rendering an indictment of Bush, placing him among the very worst of our country’s presidents. His will end up being an historic presidency, just not the way we would have hoped.