Do you really think you can judge how a President will be looked at historically while he's in office?

Question

I hear quite a bit about how President Bush will go down in history as this or that, and I only wonder do any of you really know, good or bad, how this President will be judged by history?
In the past there have been Presidents who while they were in office were thought to be the worst ever, but history changes that and those men have come to be revered for their jobs in office. Also, Presidents who were highly thought of while in office, then 20-30 years down the road, the decisions they made come to fruition or don't and the jugdement was changed. So please, all of you who can look two to three decades into the future, tell me how we will judge this President. What if Iraq works out and they become a stable democracy. What if the tax-cuts he proposed and instituted help the economy grow beyond anything we imagined. What then?

The rest of the world does not hate us. Maybe the Muslim world, but they have hated us for longer than the six years Bush has been in office. But our allies are still our allies and a war such as this one will not change that.

Also, I am not necessarily a Bush supporter, but I don't see how you can judge a man in an historical sense when his policies have been in effect but for six years.

I can understand people not liking his policies, hell I don't most of the time, but lets put into historical sense yet as we have no idea what the future holds.

Answer 1

Big events often are harbingers of how any given president will be seen in the future. But you are correct, it does take time to get the full impact of any administration. The time is generally 15 to 20 years. Some Presidents who were meligned in their own time have come up in popularity (Harry Truman) others thought to be super great have leveled off lower than during their time or shortly after (JFK). The Teapot Dome scandal was a problem for Harding and is still seen as a factor in his disfavor.

Answer 2

Regardless of how Iraq and the economy does, Bush has destroyed the fabric of what America was built on. We have always prided ourselves as being peace-loving and only using military force when necessary. That all changed when we decided to invade a country without cause. America has changed forever. We are despised by the rest of the world and our country is torn down the middle. I am not sure how that could be spun to be a positive.

Answer 3

History will not change some of the really bad decisions made by this President. They are done, and will not change. I know that Bush supporters have the very Machiavellian point of view that the long-term effects of the decisions Bush is making will prove that the short-term effects weren't so bad, but let's be realistic here, okay?

Answer 4

Historians are just pundits who use more polysyllabic words.

Economists will judge a President's economic policy based on results, in the context of broader factors (for example, while Clinton's economic policies were, on the whole, good, you also have to consider the help he got from the Fed, especially in the late 1990s boom period, which apparently is the only thing people remember about the entire decade.

Answer 5

Female artists are judged on their ability to do art. Wives of famous men, female models, actresses, singers are often looked at for their attractiveness. Men such as Brad Pitt are judged on their good looks, but then how do you explain someone such as Frances McDormond or William H Macy or Jack Black or any of those actors? Or for that matter many singers and dancers? Many are not beautiful in a socially acceptable way. Yet they all have talent and are good at something. So they are judged on their abilities, not on how they look. Women and men who are good-looking can only get so far, after that its their abilities that are looked at, attractive or not attractive. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a living on his looks, so has Brad Pitt, David Beckham, Sean Connery and many many more males. In actual fact standards are much higher for Women than for Men, all Men have to do is hold down a job, it relatively simple for them. Women do the job and everything else they do, including how they look, how intelligent they are, if they cook, if they do sports, if they have children, if they gain weight, whatever they do is looked at closely and judged by the insecure.

Answer 6

What bush has engaged in during his fraudulent time in office goes far beyond "interpretation" and "nuance."

The San Andreas Fault is visible from space. And bush's failures as President will be seen clearly through time.

Answer 7

I think so. It is based on events, economy, and changing times. Historians already have President Bush in the top 5 of all presidents.

Answer 8

You know it!! look at george W Bush is the man insane or what?? look at what he is doing!! wasting billions, and billions of dollars for that crazy war in iraq!! that money should be used right here in our own country to do some good for your fellow americans? I think he will be looked at very harshly for how he is running this country?? but wait? he is not running this country is he??

Answer 9

You are correct. Truman was considered a horrible president, and he was extreemly unpopular while in office. Now he is great.

IKE was considered a great president, but has gone down as an average president who missed opportunities at greatness.

However, Carter was a horrible president and thought of as a horrible president while in office.

Answer 10

No. Exhibit A: Harry Truman.