The Bush Presidency

Now that George W. Bush has returned to the private sector, lets look at his accomplishments these past 8 years. January 20th, 2001, George W. Bush became the 43rd President of the United States. Not even nine months later we had an act of terror against our country on September 11th, 2001. The president then acted accordingly by launching the war on terror. Today we still have not been attacked again, and we are winning the war in Iraq. Also in his first term he passed a fairly big tax cut and a controversial piece of legislation, though not at the time, entitled the USA Patriot Act. One mistake the president made was in 2003. It was when he stood on the USS Abraham Lincoln with a big banner above his head stating, "Mission Accomplished". He oviously interpreted that phrase differently then most americans did. On November 2nd, 2004, Bush was reelected to a second term and on January 20th, 2005 was sworn in for a second time. His next goal for his second term was to get his Social Security Reform passed. Instead of the normal 15% coming from the american worker and the worker's employer, only 13% would go into the Social Security fund. Leaving 2% for the american worker to invest. This change was propsed because if the system is left the same now then workers paying in now would not get the money they paid in when they retire due to the system going bankrupt. I thought this was a good idea. For Mr. Bush to even take on Social Security reform deserves my respect. It is considered the "third rail" in politics and should not be touched. That is the main reason the president's proposal failed. In 2008, the economy suffered, and is still in a reccession. He and his treasury secretary Henry Paulson propsed 700 billion dollar bailout that I am not sure has worked effectively. The bad economy was the biggest factor in President Obama's victory.

Now that we have reviewed President Bush's two terms in office, I have a few thoughts on the president's efforts and accomplishments. Many people do not approve of President Bush but cannot offer up a suffiecient reason why. I think President Bush put his best efforts into protecting our country and trying to move it forward. Though he saw opposition, he got some good things done. Such as the big tax cut I mentioned earlier. He also proposed a bill with Ted Kennedy called No Child Left Behind. There is a bit that can be revised, but mostly the bill gives expectations to schools and teachers. It provides clear standards. The Patriot Act also needs to be revised to be constitutional in some areas but over all it helps when fighting the war on terror. The recent surge in Iraq has worked and the Iraqi goverment is starting to take over for american troops, and the troops are slowly but surely coming home. Iraq is more secure today than it has ever been, and that is thanks to President Bush. So overall I think the president recieved to much negative feedback when his efforts were good, especially when he dared to reform Social Security. He does not deserve the negativity of the media 24/7, or booing when leaving office.