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Audacity of Truth
Presidential “scholars”: Unfinished business Bush will leave is “unprecedented since at least World War II”
Via USA Today:
WASHINGTON — The 44th president will move into the Oval Office with an agenda defined in large part by the 43rd president.
In many ways, it will be George W. Bush’s third term.
Among pressing issues left on the table: What’s next in Iraq. How to restore America’s reputation around the world. Whether to extend tax cuts that expire in 2010. What to do about Medicare’s looming shortfall. And how to complete the job of helping the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Katrina.
No new president gets a clean slate — global politics and the economy don’t run in neat four-year cycles — but presidential scholars say the unfinished business Bush will leave for his successor is unprecedented since at least World War II.
“I can’t think of a single modern president about to bequeath to his successor such a difficult agenda and such a damaged presidency,” says Paul Light of New York University.
Right! Ok, let’s see what Clinton left to Bush. Unfinished business with:
-North Korea,
-Iraq,
-Iran,
-Al Qaeda,
-The Palestinians and Israel.
As well as leaving:
-A recession of which the roots began towards the last few months of Clinton’s term,
-A demoralized military disgusted with their Commander in Chief,
-Thinned out and strained intelligence agencies,
-The stained (literally and figuratively) reverence of the Oval Office, created by President Clinton’s penchant for cheating on his wife.
It’s a fact that every single president is going to leave some unfinished business to the man/woman who takes his or her place, some moreso than others. A lot of it, of course, has to do with what’s going on in the world at the time, and if, when, and how a president chooses to handle it. Some issues a president doesn’t want to have to handle but must, and almost inevitably thanks to the typical red tape and political correctness that infests nearly every issue we debate in our times, some of those issues aren’t going to be resolved – even in two terms (see Clinton, Bill).
What about other presidents, like Lyndon Johnson, for example, and the huge Vietnam mess he left to Nixon?
The USA Today’s “experts” suggesting that Bush is leaving more than “any president since WWII” is a prime of example of why we shouldn’t always take the opinions of “experts” so seriously, and also shows how much historical perspective this country has lost over the last 6-plus years.
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ST,
Well, look: I don’t want to get into duelling lists between Bush and Clinton, especially because I happen to think that neither one will be judged very favorably by historians (but who knows?). So, for now, I’ll just repeat that quote about “journalism is the first draft of history.” Maybe 10 years down the road we’ll know which president left the most for his successor to do.
Anyway, for the article to claim that
Is beyond ridiculous.
I’m sorry, but you are being beyond ridiculous when you even begin to compare the size and scope of the unfinished business of the Bush administration with that of Bill Clinton’s. All politics aside, no matter what you or I think of either man or the accomplishments of their presidencies, or the validity of their various undertakings, the simple fact is: Clinton did not leave two ongoing, thusfar unscuccessful wars to Bush. It’s a quantity issue, that’s all it is. Reacting to this report by defensively whipping on ol’ Bill yet again makes about as much sense as being outraged by a report that Bush has more daughters than Clinton.
Your Johnson analogy is absolutely correct, however. I would wager these same scholars would probably list Johnson as a close second in the “unfinished business” contest.
Had B.J. Cl;nton recognized and responded forcefully to the first World Trade Center attack in ‘Ninety Three the Global War on Terror may well have been fought and won by now. Forty-Three has been forced to fight the war that one Clinton ducked and the other Clinton is denying.
The fact it that the United States was attacked every year of the Clintons’ administration, and they did nothing to respond.
Nathan says:
the simple fact is: Clinton did not leave two ongoing, thusfar unscuccessful wars to Bush. It’s a quantity issue, that’s all it is.
No, he left one war, and that was one where we weren’t even fighting back. We were losing that one purely by non-participation.
On top of that, you can add the weakened economy. Whoever succeeds Bush will not inherit that problem.
But this is really a pointless exercise. No matter who the president is, you can make a list of what tasks are unfinished when they leave office. None of us can really say whether Bush or Clinton will bequeath more problems.
And that brings us right back to the point of ST’s post, which is that USA Today is cherry-picking “experts” to obtain their usual leftist MSM spin.
Well think of Truman as well. Korea, the Cold War, civil rights….those issues were not one president’s concerns.
But as for Bush and Clinton…. Clinton left AlQaida {which was created during his time in office}alone to grow and gain in numbers and influence.
He left the whole business with Iraq, after bombing that country and making the removal of Saddam Hussein from power our national policy in 1998. He was the president when the oil for food scam was enacted and he allowed that to go on. He did not question the UN weapons inspectors in 1999 when they swore Saddam had weapons.
He definitely left the intel community in this country in a sorry shape.He was too concerned with his problems to be aware of the attack that was being planned on his watch and that would come to fruition after Bush took office.
He did not increase border security when the numbers of people illegally crossing began to increase in the late 90s. But then again, neither did the Republican Congress at that time.
As for our reputation in the world, after the soap opera that was Clinton’s term in office, what reputation was there to save?
What stupidity! Anyone who really believes a president has the ability to wrap things up neatly at the end of his term has been watching too much television!
Nathan says, apparently to me as well as ST:
I certainly am not “defensively whipping” on anyone. My points are merely (a)that neither Clinton nor Bush is likely to be rated a success down the road and (b) that every president leaves unfinished business.
The false analogy about more daughters is too foolish to discuss, so I won’t.