Is Bush the most divisive president in history?

Question

I cannot remember a president that has elicited such divded responses in my lifetime.He is hated and hateful in a way I have never seen in an American figure.Why does he do what he does?

Answer 1

I can't stand Bush myself, but the most divisive president was probably Lincoln.

Answer 2

Because he's a bad president. He doesn't know what he's doing because he probably isn't the one doing the thinking. I think his strategists- Karl Rove among them- are the ones who are crafting his divisive policies. Remember the orange/red alerts right before the 2004 election? where have they disappeared to? And the gay marriage thing was used with great effect in 2004. Bush kept pointing out how Kerry came from the only state where gay marriage is legal. And the "flip flop" thing surely didn't bring Americans together. Some Americans tend to think that issues aren't all black-and-white, but others think that if you wave the flag long enough, all problems will miraculously go away.

I think Bush is the type of guy who delegates most of the work to others. If you can imagine Bush playing video games in one room, and his advisors crafting his Macchiavellian policies in the other, that's what we have right now. They tell him "Say this" and so he does that. Haven't you noticed that sometimes he says things- really "complicated" things- which sound like they could never come from his own mind? Of course, he always manages to bungle them up, but that's even more reason why you have to suspect that someone else is the "brain".

Answer 3

That all depends on your opinion of him and the others. In many ways, Lincoln was just as divisive in his time, if not more so; so far, Bush has yet to cause an actual Civil War. Hoover was unfairly blamed for the stock market crash of '29, and by extension, the Depression by a significant proportion of American voters, but there were a good number of reasonable souls who opposed such irrational ideas.

Answer 4

President Bush has spent the past 5 1/2 years reaching across to his political opponents, only to have his hands slapped and bitten in an ugly display of partisan politics by the Dems. Time and time again, they use ugly rhetoric, smears and falsehoods to attack the president.

I fail to see any blame that can be laid on Bush's head for this state of affairs. The divisiveness is all from the other side.

The only thing I can see is a minority party doing anything to regain power, whatever the cost to the country, however many people must die or suffer.

Answer 5

I am concerned more about the education that you received in high school. There are quite a few presidents who were very devisive. In fact, Reagan caused riots in some cities over his policies during the cold war. Kennidy took us into VietNam and caused a lot of problems before he was assassinated and raised up on a pedistal of worship. Nixon, enough said. Clinton Whitewater and Lewinski. The problem with that is the media did not exploit him in the papers like they do Bush.

Those are just more recent Presidents. In our history Presidents actually are usually more divisive then they are unifying. That is the problem with a two party system.

Answer 6

You need a history lesson. A certain Abraham Lincoln divided his OWN party much worse than G Dub has. No one thought he could manage a war, let alone win it and while in office, many felt he was the worst and most incapable President of all time. Now let me ask you this, in 2006 how do you view Lincoln now? History will repeat itself for Bush for his strong stance against Terrorism and his fight to keep traditional values in a country that was founded on them.

Answer 7

no. the word divisive indicates that he divides the USA. this son of a ***** has been sitting at about a 29% approval rating for about half of his presidency. he's not divisive, just hated. i would say that Lincoln is probably the most divisive, but clinton comes damn close. as to why he does what he does, i think it's for a few reasons. first, he's religious, so he makes important decisions based on a 2000 year old collection of fiction. second, he's arrogant and unwilling to admit mistakes; and third, though im not positive, i suspect he may be mildly retarded.

Answer 8

He's ignorant and most of his brain cells are pickled.

He will be the worst president we ever had, and historians are already claiming that he is!

The president came to office calling himself "a uniter, not a divider" and promising to soften the acrimonious tone in Washington. He has had two enormous opportunities to fulfill those pledges: first, in the noisy aftermath of his controversial election in 2000, and, even more, after the attacks of September 11th, when the nation pulled behind him as it has supported no other president in living memory. Yet under both sets of historically unprecedented circumstances, Bush has chosen to act in ways that have left the country less united and more divided, less conciliatory and more acrimonious -- much like James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson and Herbert Hoover before him. And, like those three predecessors, Bush has done so in the service of a rigid ideology that permits no deviation and refuses to adjust to changing realities. Buchanan failed the test of Southern secession, Johnson failed in the face of Reconstruction, and Hoover failed in the face of the Great Depression. Bush has failed to confront his own failures in both domestic and international affairs, above all in his ill-conceived responses to radical Islamic terrorism. Having confused steely resolve with what Ralph Waldo Emerson called "a foolish consistency . . . adored by little statesmen," Bush has become entangled in tragedies of his own making, compounding those visited upon the country by outside forces.




"For all you C students out there, it's amazing what can happen to you if you keep working hard."
—Bush, preparing to speak about Social Security at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, March 4, 2005

Answer 9

He certainly is one of the most divisive presidents in history. The others would include FDR, JFK, LBJ, Ronald Reagan, & Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately though the current administration cannot live up to the stature of these others.

Answer 10

Bush is not a bad president...in fact he has BALLS....you people that complain about him...will complain about the next one that comes into office...People like you are never happy with anything...Bush did the right thing in sending troops in there...I served in military and have sister that just came back from Iraq...all you people out here complaining....why dont u join the military and fight for our country and shut the hell up