What did a GWB Presidency look like?

[DGuller]

I've been thinking recently about how incredible it is that GWB seems to be regarded quite warmly now, even among the liberals.  I'm old enough to remember what the political discourse was like in his days, and rational enough to remember it accurately, and I think the 2021 view of GWB would come as quite a shock to many people from 2004.

What do people think is the reason for this change?  Did he not get treated fairly in his time as a president, and now that it's history long past, the passions have cooled and the more fair evaluation takes root?  Has the total war that followed his presidency normalized the very real dysfunction of the Bush years?  Do people just focus on what a nice guy he seems to be, which was never in question, and not on the more divisive issues of politics?

What are the thoughts?

[crazy canuck]

What makes you think he is remembered warmly?

It is just that we realize now it could get worse than him.

[celedhring]

I'm still amazed that there has never been a real reckoning regarding the massive deception leading up to the Irak war.

[DGuller]

What makes you think he is remembered warmly?

It is just that we realize now it could get worse than him.

I don't know, just a feeling.  I don't see too many snide tweets when he's making those cute appearances with Michelle Obama, though to be honest I'm not looking particularly hard.

[DGuller]

Here are some harder numbers: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/22/politics/george-w-bush-favorable-poll/index.html

[Valmy]

He might be the worst US President of all time. He was handed the US in the strongest position it has ever been and ran it into the ground. I will never forgive him for what he did, never.

But the weird part is he always seemed like a good person despite doing incredibly horrendous immoral things as President. That weird charm has helped to rehabilitate himself, especially with Trump out there.

But not with me. Fuck him.

[Valmy]

I'm still amazed that there has never been a real reckoning regarding the massive deception leading up to the Irak war.

Well that is the frustrating thing. When you see these people lying and cheating and doing misdeeds you hope that eventually when their falsehoods are revealed there will be a catharsis...but nope.

[The Minsky Moment]

It's a combo of:
+ Trump resetting the bar way way way down
+ passions cooling over time, memory fading
+ the more time passes since the presidency, the more tendency to see the person rather than the President, which e.g. works to the benefit of Bush vis Cinton
+ Bush had an almost plausible evil advisors misleading the king narrative

[Syt]

He might be the worst US President of all time. He was handed the US in the strongest position it has ever been and ran it into the ground. I will never forgive him for what he did, never.

But the weird part is he always seemed like a good person despite doing incredibly horrendous immoral things as President. That weird charm has helped to rehabilitate himself, especially with Trump out there.

But not with me. Fuck him.

He certainly gave off the air of a nice, good, if somewhat simple guy, surrounded by malicious advisors.

[HVC]

he does quaint paintings and is friends with Michelle. He also came out against trump.  Probably mostly time, its been 12 years.

[grumbler]

His current favorability ratings are for him as a person, not a president.  His presidency was the beginning of Trumpism.  As MM and Syt point out, he seemed even at the time to be a guy in over his head, listening to the wrong people.  He certainly had one of the worst administrations in history.

Kinda like US Grant.

[Sheilbh]

It's a combo of:
+ Trump resetting the bar way way way down
+ passions cooling over time, memory fading
+ the more time passes since the presidency, the more tendency to see the person rather than the President, which e.g. works to the benefit of Bush vis Cinton
+ Bush had an almost plausible evil advisors misleading the king narrative

Yeah totally agree with these.

His current favorability ratings are for him as a person, not a president.  His presidency was the beginning of Trumpism.  As MM and Syt point out, he seemed even at the time to be a guy in over his head, listening to the wrong people.  He certainly had one of the worst administrations in history.

Kinda like US Grant.

I thought there'd been quite a bit of revisionism around Grant's administration recently?

[The Brain]

Seeming to be a person it would be cool to have as a neighbor helps him a lot. I still think he was a horrible, horrible president, and he really hurt the standing of the US in the eyes of the world. Many generally US-friendly people in the ROTW felt somewhat, well, "betrayed" when the US started publicly champion the systematic use of torture, and they of course had to stop supporting the US.

[Tonitrus]

This thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upgaUAcjbc

[The Brain]

This thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upgaUAcjbc

Video looks like it has been edited.