A year ago I criticized Hillary Clinton for saying "this (Bush) administration will go down in history as one of the worst."
"She's wrong," I wrote. Then I rated these five presidents, in this order, as the worst: Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Hoover and Richard Nixon. "It's very unlikely Bush can crack that list," I added.
I was wrong. This is my mea culpa. Not only has Bush cracked that list, but he is planted firmly at the top.
The Iraq war, of course, has become Bush's albatross. He and his buddies are great at coining words or slogans. "Bushisms" that will haunt him historically:
"Shock and Awe," early 2003.
"Mission Accomplished," May 1, 2003.
"Stay the Course," June 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
"New Strategy," 2007.
Another term historians may weigh critically is "Decider."
Is he just a self-touted decider doing what he thinks right? Or is he an arrogant ruler who doesn't care or consider what the public or Congress believes best for the country?
Despite his play on words and slogans, Bush didn't learn the value or meaning of mea culpa (acknowledgement of an error) during his years at Yale.
Bush admitting his many mistakes on Iraq and ending that fiasco might make many of us forgive, even though we can never forget the terrible toll in lives and dollars.
February 17, 2007
One more
This from Faithful Progressive the discussion by the founder of USA Today on Bush's place in history:
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3 comments:
Streak, Do you think the writer meant Andrew JOHNSON and not Andrew Jackson. While I am no fan of Jackson, I have never seen him considered as one of the worst Presidents, whereas Johnson sometimes pops up on these lists.
I think CIL is right. Always on these lists its Johnsons, Johnsons as far as the eye can see.
Of course I am certainly NO FAN of Andrew Jackson, hna?
Hah. I read over that so quickly, I didn't even notice. I simply assumed Johnson rather than Jackson. I agree. Johnson was a terrible President.
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