RateItAll: The Opinion Network

He did a good job but was undercut by that moron, Perot.

I've never heard of Bush mentioned in a particularly reverent or scathing context, so I'd say that he gets his due in terms of public conceptions about his presidency. An average president who made a few blunders, and ultimately found himself overwhelmed by an economic recession that was no fault of his own.

Without a doubt the worst president ever. Nixon's place has been taken. A liar who seems set to destroy our credibility, economy and ecology. What a @!$#@!

In my opinion, George Bush, Sr. assembled the most competent cabinet and administration in modern history, though this was mostly due to the eight preceding Reagan years in which the chaff was largely removed. While Bush, Sr. only had four years to finish much of the unfinished business from the previous Regan Administration, he was largely successful in doing so (eg implementing the peace dividend by starting the long-term process of standing down the Cold War military position). Unfortunately, Bush, Sr. also thought he was above politics, which resulted in his ignoring campaigning that ultimately cost him a second term. If Bush, Sr. had stayed in office from 1992-96, then there would have been some legitimate chance that real debt and tax reduction would have been completed when it was the least economically painful to do so. Something Clinton failed to do. (One must comprehend government accounting to fully understand this.) Moreover, we may have been able to begin creating actual social security reserves that will be needed if the program has any hope to be saved. Instead we got an increased social state (that is impossible for us to afford in the long-term) and more generational tax inequities from continuing to shift the burden of current general expenditures to future generations. Some critics suggest that the U.S. should have finished off Saddam during the Gulf War, but these critics seem to be the same people who complain about a lack of international coalition today (ie the Iraq War and occupation). One should remember that the coalition was built on a limited engagement (ie ousting Saddam from Kuwait) and going substantially beyond these constraints would have most likely resulted in serious damage to American relations in the Middle East (though one could argue, perhaps, that Bush, Sr. should have negotiated fewer limitations). The bottom line is that George Bush Sr. is highly underrated as a president.

America was lucky to survive his administration. Idiot comment below this one doesn't even know the difference between the father and son.

Thank God GWB won the election over Gore! He is the right man at the right time. I pity him for the slander and lack of support he has to endure from those who want to grab headlines at the expense of the nation's security.

I still say it wasn't Perot that caused Bush to lose to Clinton in '92. It was Bush's lack of willingness to campaign vigorously. The election was close, and Bush could have won. He was a good president, but unlike his predecessor, Reagan, he did not stick with his core principles concerning his vision for the direction of this country.

George W. Bush was the right man for the country at the right time. His handling of 9/11 and the economy is nothing short of a miracle.

Underrated by the public for his '92 re-election, but the results of that election are his own fault. He did not campaign aggressively, admitted that domestic issues were not interesting to him, and broke his read my lips (no new taxes) promise to the public. He was a good president, but he lost to an individual who was determined to win the White House.

Hmmmm, I smell an agenda here. This is a dictator, usurper, madman - the point is he is EVIL. Check for yourself, there's lots of websites documenting all the harm he has done and more he wants to do.