will the bush adminstration go down as the worst adminstration EVER?

Question

This administration managed to take a national surplus and turn it into an astronomical debt.

Turned the entire world against us. (Hello, insulting the Queen of the only country that still has (had) our back)

And looks dumber than a horses @ss when ever he talks...

On top of the plethura of scandals and resignations...

Even Rep can agree (atleast the intelligent ones, this administrations SUCKS @SS!!!!)

funny... the only answers on here siding with Bush are americans... the rest of the world... well, I guess the rest of the world agrees with me..

Don't forget, many German's supported Hitler.. guess the rest of the world was wrong then too, huh?

Answer 1

Time will tell.

What ends up happening with terrorists and the Middle East will effect the historian's opinion of the GWB administration.

Answer 2

Probably not the worst ever, no. Not because it's not been the worst to date because I think it has been (It's certainly given the Nixon era a run for it's money) but since old George Dubya is coming to the end of his allotted term in the White House, he'll have to be replaced by someone else.
Given the consistency with which half the voting public in America manage to return someone who's more inept than the guy he beats, it's only a matter of time before someone forms a really, really terrible administration.

And I hate to tell you this, but a large percentage of the UK population can't stand Tony Blair because he got us into an illegal war at the request of Bush. The UK government might be at your back, but the general population think American foreign policy amounts to 'if we don't like you, we'll kill you.'
And being your friend isn't safe either. Your lot killed more British soldiers in the first Gulf War than the Iraqi Army did.

Answer 3

Possibly, but the answer really has two parts:
1) Is the Bush administration the 'worst' morally ie did they do the wrong thing and have the wrong priorities?
2) Is the Bush administration the 'worst' functionally ie, given what they set out to do, did they manage to do it?

The answer to 1) is much harder since people will have very different opinions and the answer will be subjective. As a British left-winger myself, I consider Bush to have been 'bad' because of him cutting taxes for the wealthy, strengthening the fundamentalists in the Bible Belt, and exporting a particular political system (democracy) to countries who don't want it.
However, none of these make his the 'worst' administration since the above ultimately just reflects my personal opinion. Were I a believer in free markets, individual self-help and religious family values I'd think he was great.

Therefore to show the Bush administration is 'bad' (or 'the worst') we have to answer question 2) and judge them on their own terms.
I think it's certainly one of the worst because:
a) They aimed to bring democracy to Iraq but have in fact created chaos.
b) They aimed to defeat terrorist organisations worldwide but managed international affairs so incompetently they ended up alienating everyone except a minority of the UK and Australia. It was particularly unforgivable to let European support for the war on terror slip (remember the headline "we are all americans now" in 'Le Monde'?).
c) They managed to scupper the conservative coalition built by Newt Gingrich in the early 90s and lose both houses of Congress despite feeble Democrat opposition. America is a conservative country and yet six years of the Bush Brigade has left Americans voting more liberally than any time since Roosevelt.

So they're definitely 'bad' but are they 'the worst'? I think this is a hard one to call. Warren Harding was easily the most corrupt but maybe Bush would have been worse if there wasn't so much scrutiny nowadays.
I think they're the worst administration because of the strong position they found themselves in and yet they blew it. Lots of administrations have been poor under difficult circumstances (Carter, Ford, Harding and others) but Bush and co. had a golden opportunity: a strong conservative coalition, Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, wealthy sponsors, HUGE global support after 9/11 and high approval ratings with the whole country ready to pull together.
Any half-decent administration could have achieved most or all of its aims (whatever we might think of those aims) under these circumstances. If Bush had achieved his goals I would respect his as a good administration even if I disagreed with him (like Eisenhower and Reagan for example). However, his failure to do this marks him out as the worst for me.

Answer 4

I don't think any administration will end up as bad as Clinton's. Bush may have made mistakes in Iraq, but if we look full scale what he has done for our country, we should be appriciative. He has the economy at the highest it's ever been (after a pit that Clinton threw it into) and does anyone notice that there haven't been any terrorist attacks since 9/11? Thats 6 years...you can say what you want to, but he has kept this country safe since then.

Answer 5

Well, I don't know. There was the Harding Administration, the Carter Administration, and the Grant Administration. Note: I didn't mention Clinton.

Answer 6

Yes, I think he will.
He got you into a costly and unnecessary war.
He has taken too much power for his executive branch (of course your Congress did let him).
He refuses to be held accountable to his people - and now, apparently even to his party.

To me, he does seem arrogant, ignorant, insecure, and none too bright - some of worst traits a leader of a democracy can have.

Answer 7

Will be a close contender. Why don't our American Friends vote the p rick out of power?

Answer 8

No.
It has it bad days and good days too like all the others in the past, present or future.

Answer 9

Yes, without a doubt, I've never seen anything so incompetent in my life as the Bush Administration, if he was in any other job surely he would have to pay compensation for all the mismanagement..... it's dire.... really.

Answer 10

No, no, no and no. This question has been asked so many times. Geez. The worst were Andrew Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.