Bush: Good or Bad?

[The Candyman]

What are your feelings about ol' Dubbya?

Personally, I used to fully support him when he first came to power. Now I can't stand the guy. Here are the main reasons:

1) He won't let 9/11 go. I'll be the first to say he did a great job of carrying the nation through that crisis, but it's been four years. I'm tired of having everything the White House does be related to that event. I'm tired of international terrorism being the focus of the government rather than, say, fixing things here at home.

2) The war in Iraq. I have yet to see an argument for it that makes sense. I'm sorry, but the whole Iraq situation just wasn't handled well at all. The war was started for the wrong reasons using the wrong method, in my opinion. It was also supposed to be over in a few months. It wasn't.

3) He seems to be trying to force his Christianity onto others. I think it's great we have a President who is a Christian and who isn't afraid to let his religion aid him in his decision-making. The problem comes when that religion politically affects people on a national scale that may disagree. Separation of church and state is something that needs to be taken into account.

4) The economy is going down the tube. Gas prices are getting higher and higher. Katrina will undoubtedly hurt the economy even more. Speaking of which, is it just me, or is Bush doing a rather lackluster job at handling that situation?

This thread is for the discussion/debate of all things related to Bush. This is my opinion. What's yours?

[greenmonkey]

I think Bush is doing a great Job, hes sure as crap doing better than Clinten ever did.

[The Candyman]

Do you have any evidence for that, other than the fact that Bush hasn't been caught in a sex scandal with an intern?

If so, please let me know.

[edu]

How the heck is this a world issue?

[The Candyman]

1) This fits under the description of a "political and/or social topic."
2) Bush is the most powerful guy in the world, and as we've already seen, his actions influence the world.

[souwa]

Hmm.. going back to one or two posts back, you can't compare two presidents, mainly because during the "Clinton times", there was no 9/11, etc. Situational factors must be taken into consideration (which makes me think, is Iraq plainly just a "situational factor" (as in something out one's control)? It was certainly not an inevitable event. There were other ways to deal with the issue, but Bush made his choice) Im not really pro-Bush nor pro-Clinton btw.

[The Candyman]

Iraq is by no means "situational." It's Bush making a conscious choice to invade a nation that did not directly attack us. Bush's logic is, "We'll attack them before they attack us." Well, if the rest of the world starts to use that logic, the USA is gonna be in a whole lot more trouble than it is now.

[edu]

Are we comparing Bush to Clinton, or are we evaluating his actions based on the effects they've brought on the world?

[The Candyman]

Both. Though I started out concentrating on the latter. I don't know/remember enough about Clinton to compare them.

[Giliathriel Amidala Skywalker]

I was really young when Clinton was in, and only started to get a real interest in politics during the 2000 elections. Looking back, I think that Bush would have been better than Gore, but I do not think that Gore would have got us in a war that is ravaging our lives here, especially those unfortunates affected by Katrina, and the families of soldiers serving in Iraq. Around 9/11, I was gung ho and patriotic, but I no longer feel any pride in our government, although I still have a bit of pride left for the American PEople themselves.

[edu]

I agree that Bush did a poor job for helping the victims of Katrina. But what makes you think that Gore would have done any better than Bush? It is very difficult to make those assumptions, even if you had a well-informed idea of Gore's perspective towards domestic affairs.

[The Candyman]

I don't know that Gore or Kerry would have done any better (though considering that Democrats typically focus more on the poor than the Republicans do, I wouldn't be surprised if they did better), and I'm not trying to say that either of them should be President. All I'm saying is that Bush is making some really big mistakes. Huge mistakes. And I personally think that the sooner he gets out of office, the better. He may be a Christian, but that doesn't make him a good President.

In other news: Bush has announced he wants to give $200 billion to aid the victims of Katrina. That is nearly what the entire war in Iraq has cost until now - that's a whole lot of money. Is it just me, or does Bush seem to think that throwing money at problems will fix them? I hope people are prepared to pay even more for gas than they already are...

To give you an idea of how much money Bush is spending on the war alone, see this webpage: www.crunchweb.net/87billion/

It really puts that amount of money into perspective.

[andrew]

Yall are so out in the dark, i live in Louisiana and was affected by Katrina, Bush did an amazing job at helping the victims. I was a volunteer and i know how he did. Yall dont know anything about it. Where did you get your information... The "Star?"
Dont dare diss Bush, he is a Godly man and doing his best (which is awesome) for the country!

[The Candyman]

Tell that to the 2,000 soldiers who have died fighting in a war that many do not support, and which has basically made us the enemy of the rest of the world.

I doubt all of them would agree with you there.