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 from which the chaff was largely removed. While Bush, Sr. only had four years to finish much of the unfinished business from the previous Reagan Administration, he was largely successful in doing so (e.g. 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 the campaign trail and 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 his successor (i.e. Clinton) failed to do. (One must comprehend government accounting to fully understand this.) Moreover, we might 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 (i.e. ousting Saddam from Kuwait) and going substantially beyond these constraints would have most likely resulted in even more 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.

Years later, he will be remembered as un underrated president.

A gentleman and the pick of this litter!

I actually think that George H.W. Bush did a good job as President. At the time, he was criticized for not having vision and for being too pragmatic and far too cautious. Like the son, he had his own fair share of verbal malapropisms. But I give him a lot of credit for managing the fall of the Soviet Union fairly well, for maintaining a balance in the Middle East, and for re-stabilizing the US economy back home. Lets start with the first point. Many criticized Bush for not supporting Yeltsin during the fall of the Soviet Union. However, I think that Bush was right to be cautious. His main concern was that excessive support early on would have meant a reactionary backlash that could have lead to a successful coup on the part of Soviet hardliners in the Kremlin. Had he supported the reformers early on '89 or '90, Gorbachev wouldn't have been able to keep the communist reactionaries at bay. He bought just enough time to let Yeltsin's movement grow, so that by late 1991, the communists could do nothing but hold back as their coup attempt failed, and as USSR melted beneath them. If the coup against Gorbachev had happened in 1989 instead of 1991, it probably would have been successful, and the history would have been much more different, probably for the worse. On the Middle East, Bush was correct to get Saddam out of Kuwait. Indeed, we had supported Saddam for many years, in fact, just until a few days before he invaded the small oil-rich country. What changed the equation was the threat he posed to broader economic and political stability in the region; and of course the Iran-Iraq War ended. But even if, that doesn't change the fact that an expansionary Iraq with de facto control of the Arabian Peninsula and an aggressive weapons policy was a threat to regional and even global peace and economic security. We had to do it, but Bush was also correct in not finishing off Saddam by occupying Baghdad. He correctly surmised that doing that would also open a Pandoras Box in a very politically sensitive region. He instead focused on finding ways to weaken his regime and to check his power in the region. And despite his occasional blustering, we were quite successful at that. Invading and occupying Iraq would have been too costly, and the outcome was far from a sure thing, as the son is learning now. That intervention also allowed for Bush to begin to successfully broker a seminal peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which culminated in a historic handshake between Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. In terms of domestic policy, he passed ADA, the Clean Air Act, and began a systematic reduction of our deficits. Yes, he did raise taxes once, but not as much as Clinton did, and not even as much as Reagan did, who raised taxes I think about 4 times during his Presidency. Bush only initiated 1 modest increase in taxes, and all the while; he was cutting the capital gains tax, which does stimulate lots of short term economic growth, which created the environment that allowed for high economic growth in the 1990's. So overall, I think the elder Bush had a very productive Presidency. He lost because he couldn't articulate a clear agenda against his opponents, who were hitting him hard on the economy, which by late 1992 was already on the rebound.

He did nothing when it came to domestic issues of our country. I'm glad he lost in 1992 because our country was in sore need of change.

I really like GHW Bush, the ex-president and funny old man, but I'm unsure about his presidency. He really fumbled the collapse of the Soviet Union. He should have done more to encourage Yeltsen to clean up Russian politics. Putin, for example, should have landed in jail after the collapse of the Commies, rather than into the presidency. And he let Saddam's regime fester. But hindsight is 20/20, so I shouldn't falt him too much.

The guy was a joke, just like his son. Consider, the entire time he was Reagans vice the Bush family was never invited to their home. Also, we hear the chatter about Clintons affair but nobody ever mentions that George Sr. lived with another woman while he was married to Barbra. He left her when he decided to go into politics. Yeah, good ol family values. This whole family is equal to the mob.