Other than the failure in Iraq, what makes Bush the worst president ever elected to the office?

Question

Bush should be considered the worst president to date based upon his frequent use of signing statements. He has used over 130 signing statements containing over 750 challenges on legislation within his term and a half in the White House. By using a signing statement, he states that he has the power to set aside laws when they conflict his with interpretation of the Constitution. Or as an editorial in the New York Times stated when comparing him to other presidents:

"And none have used it so clearly to make the president the interpreter of a law's intent, instead of Congress, and the arbiter of constitutionality, instead of the courts."

What he is in fact doing is destroying the very system of check and balances that have made this government work. His actions are destroying the delicate balance designed by the Constitution to equalize power between three distinct areas of the United States government.

Should the president have the right to change our system of governement?

By the way, executive orders are differnet from signing statements.

An executive order is an edict issued by a member of the executive branch.

A signing statement is added to a piece a legislation passed by the US Congress to state that the executive branch need not comply with a law enacted by said legislature.

This isn't meant to be a partisan question.

Whether your a Democrat or a Republican or non-partisan as I am, what's at stake is the Constitution of the United States.

Answer 1

(1) Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history;
(2) Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period;
(3) Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market;
(4) First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history;
(5) After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history;
(6) In his first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs;
(7) Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history;
(8) Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history;
(9) Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history;
(10) Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed;
(11) Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans;
(12) Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest a sitting American President, shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind;
(13) Dissolved more international treaties than
any president in US history;
(14) First president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt;
(15) Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world;
(16) First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation;
(17) Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States;
(18) Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history;
(19) First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission;
(20) First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board;
(21) All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations;
(22) Biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation);
(23) Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history;
(24) Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history);
(25) With a policy of 'disengagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years;
26) Fist US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view his presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability;
(27) First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea;
(28) Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts;
(29) Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts;
(30) Failed to fulfill his pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive';
(31) Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months he has no leads and zero suspects;
(32) In the 18 months following the 911 attacks he successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States;
(33) Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history;
(34) Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic indicator negative

Answer 2

When 911 happened Bush had only been in the White House for 8 months. Hardly time enough to undo the mess that Clinton left him. It is common knowledge that the terrorists plots were being planned several years in advance, how come the Clinton Administration didn't stop them at that time. And only an idiot believes that any president ever truly goes on vacation, they might go to their vacation home but they work there also.

Answer 3

I believe his biggest flaw is not giving any credence to things he doesn't like to hear. Anyone leading the country successfully should take information from conservative and liberal think tanks and L E A D , not just recycle information in a circular pattern telling Cheney Iraq is a "slam dunk" and Cheney telling Rummy Iraq is a slam dunk and Rummy telling the CIA that Iraq is a slam dunk and the CIA telling Cheney Iraq is a "slam dunk" This is not leading the country, it's just people telling like-minded (or like mindless) individuals what they already believe.

No he shoudn't have the right to change the system even if he thinks he's "the decider"

Answer 4

"Should the president have the right to change our system of governement?"

No, and it won't happen. There is a growing number of moderates and liberals in this country who will not allow it.

History will not be kind to Junior and the conservatives. Even though the wingnut righties are trying to discredit every newspaper, news station, and periodical that isn't as extreme as they are, truth will not disappear.

Answer 5

Every president that has been in office did the very thing you have accused President Bush of doing. Read your Political History. You are listening to news hype. This is what they get paid to do. Grab your attention and keep their ratings high.

Answer 6

"Calamitous presidents, faced with enormous difficulties -- Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Hoover and now Bush -- have divided the nation, governed erratically and left the nation worse off. In each case, different factors contributed to the failure: disastrous domestic policies, foreign-policy blunders and military setbacks, executive misconduct, crises of credibility and public trust. Bush, however, is one of the rarities in presidential history: He has not only stumbled badly in every one of these key areas, he has also displayed a weakness common among the greatest presidential failures -- an unswerving adherence to a simplistic ideology that abjures deviation from dogma as heresy, thus preventing any pragmatic adjustment to changing realities. Repeatedly, Bush has undone himself, a failing revealed in each major area of presidential performance."

Answer 7

Sorry, I think Jimmy Carter was the worst president in the modern era.
Now he appears to be the worst ex president as well.

Answer 8

Percentage of US citizens at poverty level is at an all time high. Percentage of Americans without health insurance is at an all time high. Largest percentage increase in energy costs. Largest percentage increase in health care costs. More corruption in government uncovered than ever...etc...etc..etc..

Answer 9

his complete inability to even consider that he may be wrong. I don't think he is always wrong but I also don't think he thinks he can be wrong. like he is destined by god to always be right.

Answer 10

They do have that right, and always have!

Former Clinton advisor Paul Begala loved the idea of Executive Orders. Begala said it this way, "..."Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Kind of cool."

No, Mr. Begala -- *not* kind of cool...more like "kind of arrogant."

"During his two terms as president, Bill Clinton averaged about one executive order each week. By doing so, he was able to effectively legislate from the Oval Office. He wrote executive orders to set aside large tracts of land as national monuments. He wrote executive orders to restructure federalism. He wrote executive orders adding "sexual orientation" to laws on federal hiring. He wrote executive orders prohibiting federal contractors from hiring permanent striker replacements. In other words, he exercised a legislative function: he made laws."

A Presidential Executive Order, whether Constitutional or not, becomes law simply by its publication in the Federal Registry. Congress is by-passed. Here are just a few Executive Orders that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

Bottom line -- just stop it with the Bush-hating. It's getting old.

Answer 11

Definately his inablility to speak. Or think.