You Know It's Sad - * Could Have Been The Best President Ever But....

[global1]

he squandered every opportunity.

After 9/11 he had the whole world in his hands - but blew that with his lying, fear, torture, death and war. Instead we've lost the respect of most of the world. Think about how he could have taken advantage of 9/11 to get the world behind us - apprehend Bin Laden, promote diplomacy and peace.

After Katrina he could have used that opportunity to quickly rebuild NO into a model city - but blew that opportunity and most of the city still lies festering. Look at Hezbollah - how quick they came out to their people after the cease fire - in order to help them rebuild. Think about how we might respect this man today if NO came back to life bigger and better than it was. How much mileage could he have take away with that.

He has control of both the House and the Senate. Can you imagine if he was able to use that control to do good for the people - but again he blew it to greed, special interest groups, more control, spying and erosion of the our Constitutional rights. Think of what could have been done for health care, energy, environment, schools, jobs, etc

I just sit back and long for the pre-* days and can't help but think - boy - if someone else sat in the WH with the opportunity that was laid in front of this guy - where we could be today.

[marmar]

1. He squandered the opportunity, but....

quite frankly, I don't think it's within him to be "the best president ever." You need opportunity and ability, and he lacks the latter.

[acmavm]

4. You're right. He doesn't have a decent or moral bone in his body. And

he comes from a dysfunctional and cold family who's fortune was founded by supporting one of the 19th century's biggest and most infamous monsters.

[babylonsister]

9. His pedigree precedes him, and that's why he was 'selected'. nt

[unschooler]

11. Who was the founding 19th century "infamous monster"?

I didn't know about that. :shrug:

[civildisoBDence]

20. I think it was a 20th Century monster

named Adolph Hitler.

DUHbya's grandfather, Senator Prescott Bush, had business dealings with the Nazis.

Thank God we live in a time when our leaders would never profit from the suffering of others.

News and commentary, left to right

[acmavm]

28. Prescott Bush, along with Averil Harriman, had their company taken

from them by the US Government for supporting the Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime. They lost the company but got to keep their ill gotten gains.

[Mabus]

13. It's also "hard werk"

and Bush isn't up to that despite what he says.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

15. He wouldn't have been the best at anything if he was the only entry

in any contest. He is a lackluster, spoiled, clueless frat boy that does not possess a modicum of any talent. In a competition between him and a box of rocks he would still come out on the short end of the stick. He doesn't even possess a moral compass, empathy for anyone but himself and for his own pleasures, fakes religion as the need requires and the empty space between his ears makes him underqualified as even a paperweight. All smoke and mirrors and KKKarl.

Nope, he couldn't be the best at anything - even in his dreams on his best night.

[marmar]

16. "even in his dreams on his best night."

LOL. :)

[wakeme2008]

2. Just think what President Clinton would have done after those two

items....

[unschooler]

8. Or President Gore.....

:cry:

The world would be a different place today....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. He never could have been the best president ever

because he's a spoiled dumbass alcoholic frat boy with the intellectual capacity of a woodchuck and the ethics of a pit viper. Granted, he didn't have to fuck up as horrendously as he did, but even at his best he'd struggle to be mediocre.

[baldguy]

6. bingo

[Buck Laser]

12. You owe an apology to pit vipers everywhere.

[calimary]

29. DAMN you're good, ocelot!

Stephanie Miller's going to be quoting you again before you know it. "...with the intellectual capacity of a woodchuck and the ethics of a pit viper." That nails it - SO poetically - although woodchucks and pit vipers everywhere are probably demanding an apology at the moment!

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. I'm reminded of the scorpion parable...

... of course I fucked up, it's in my nature.

Bush had no intention, nor capacity, for being a good president. Granted, he had more opportunities to be a good leader than any president before him, but one should only considered those opportunities "lost" if one assumes that goodwill, cooperation and excellence were his intent.

Those opportunities were actually hurdles to his real mission - sabotage.

Actually, given the situation he inherited, his truly brilliant job of screwing things up is an act of genius. He's an idiot savant, in which his primary gift is idiocy. It's a work of art.

[MissWaverly]

5. He never wanted to be great, he wanted to be what he is

He demanded the Supreme Court hand him the White House after he lost the election and they did.
Everything that has occurred/has happened with a passive, submissive Congress, the greatest
secrecy and the muzzling of the press in our history. This is what he wanted, the Gulf Coast
is the way he wants, and the Middle East with its sharply escalating price of oil and failed nation state in Iraq is what he wants. He has gotten every single he wanted thing that he asked for from Congress and when he wanted more he rewrote the laws or ignored them.

What has the US gotten

52 ignored memos
a vacationer in chief
loss of the 3 of the highest most densely populated landmarks in NYC
loss of a major American city
loss of countless individuals to right to trial
loss of countless people to protection under the geneva conventions
loss of Iraqis to self rule and sovereignty
loss of thousands of Iraqis and US soldiers
loss of billions of Iraqi and US dollars
loss of 2 very questionable national US elections
loss of the right to vote for countless ordinary, hardworking americans including some who
are serving in Iraq
loss of covert status of CIA agent for political payback
loss of right to privacy for countless americans

[SaveElmer]

7. He was destined for failure from the beginning...

No one that rigid, incurious and unengaged could possibly not be in over their heads as President. It was obvious from day one!

[Sherman A1]

10. I disagree

I think at best he could have reached mediocre, but never the best. He could have avoided the title of Worst Ever and Complete Failure, but he could have never reached the level of Best. How could he be compared with Washington, Jefferson, either Roosevelt, Truman or JFK? No chance.....

[Democrat 4 Ever]

17. Mediocre? Nah, to be mediocre you have to be able to think without

Dead Eye's hand up his ass. Ain't gonna happen.

[Sherman A1]

27. Oh, I think he could have gotten mediocre

if he had not done anything (he was pretty much on track for that pre 9/11). Unfortunately that was not the case.

[baldguy]

14. Only if he had been killed by that pretzel.

[sandnsea]

18. No such thing as Republican "Best President"

And no, Lincoln was not a Republican, not by political philosophy standards. There's no way Bush could have done any of the things you propose because that isn't what being a Republican is all about, especially not the crowd in there now. They did exactly what they planned to do, return power to the top 1% and re-adjust our military power into the middle east. There was never any hope that there would be a different outcome.

[alarimer]

19. He would never have been a good president

let alone the best. He is a Republican, who, by definition, will never do anything good for the people. Instead they reward their corporate cronies with massive tax breaks and cushy government contracts. Graft and corruption are the only things Bush ever knew.

[drthais]

21. I think this needs to be re-framed

because Bush could never have been the Best. President. Ever.
(see many other repsonses to this post)

The events of the past 6 years could have afforded a president
one very different from the sorrry-ass one we have
with a range of opportunites to promote and define
what is best in our country, or at least our vision of it

it is all moot, in any case
it is like bizarro-world...
where every single instance which afforded opportunity
was turned into the most unmitigated disaster imagineable

you would think an administration would have had to try very hard
in order to make the mess they ave made for us
here and in the world

[FloridaPat]

22. He stole the presidency. Not the kind of person to be "great"

[Olney Blue]

23. I agree with your concept that the circumstances provided a unique

opportunity for a great leader to shine. We now know that he is not a leader, and he is not great.

[civildisoBDence]

24. DUHbya could have been a decent human being but

he squandered every opportunity. Too busy walking around the WH looking at portraits and fantasizing about being a great president.

News and commentary, left to right

[OwnedByFerrets]

25. How could he have possibly been the best

president since he has failed miserably at EVERYTHING he has ever tried his hand at. He has been a failure since birth.

[smtpgirl]

26. I's not sad, *ush's standing is the karma coming back

at him, "let the chips fall where they may".

WORST pRESIDNET EVER!!!!

[subterranean]

30. Another president, maybe, but not Bush

He is ideologically opposed to everything you think he should have done. Diplomacy, peace, doing good for the people, improving health care, the environment, schools, etc. Sure he could have done all those things, but then he wouldn't be a Republican.

[GoneOffShore]

31. He didn't squander the opportunities,

He repudiated them!

As Phil Ochs said of Richard Nixon: "Now that he's the President, he's not really the President."

Bush's Administration is characterized by greed, corruption and inefficiency. And let's not forget cronyism, nepotism and toadying.

The people that voted for him were interested in control and money. And the backwash, they thought they were going to get rid of the gays, and abortion and liberals.

I don't think that he ever wanted to do anything but what he's done. He's like Gollum after years with the Ring - dessicated, mean and small. And if there is any sort of justice, he will always be considered that way.

[whistle]

32. George W Bush is an imbecile

[leesa]

33. Except for the minor detail of being involved in carrying out 9-11

Does he lose 'greatest ever' points for being the perpetrator?