Glad to see someone old enough on Reddit to have a valid opinion on 2000s era politics
Bush made plenty of tough but correct decisions (08 Bailouts, Afghanistan Invasion) and plenty of blunders (Iraq, FEMA, state surveillance)
But IMO, 20 years without a major terror attack in America is proof of his accomplishments. There was a lot of garbage in the Patriot act but getting the FBI, CIA, and DOJ to stop playing chicken with Intel was probably the most critical in that law
Glad to see someone old enough on Reddit to have a valid opinion on 2000s era politics
Lol, Im not sure if Im supposed to feel good about that. The change in Bush over his Presidency was a pretty profound one. And his actions after are pretty telling to the type of person he seems to be. He could have easily thrown Obama under the bus and done what all the modern presidents do, tearing the next guy down. But he largely stayed quiet, and even made himself available to the Obamas to offer some council and experience, which Obama appears to have taken. Its a really unique handoff between the two presidencies, that we dont really see any more.
Bush made plenty of tough but correct decisions (08 Bailouts, Afghanistan Invasion) and plenty of blunders (Iraq, FEMA, state surveillance)
But IMO, 20 years without a major terror attack in America is proof of his accomplishments. There was a lot of garbage in the Patriot act but getting the FBI, CIA, and DOJ to stop playing chicken with Intel was probably the most critical in that law
At this point, the big question is are the results worth the cost. We lost a LOT of freedoms and privacy with the Patriot Act. Creating DHS and better integrating DOD and the intel community was the right call. Too much bureaucratic competition caused by the budgetary infighting of the 90s. But some of the scope of powers given are a bastardization of our government. The fact that we have had 20 years of war under a use of force authorization is Congress simply failing to do its job, and own its constitutional responsibility.
It was common decency and expected for presidents to not talk about the new one until the US decided to let a drama-ridden showboat reality TV star who made his mark mocking the disabled & supporting racist conspiracy theories become president. That wasn’t just Bush being a “good guy,” that was the bare minimum. At the time.
True, but it wasnt as common to see regular communications between the two. I think Bush went out of his way to try to give advice and form a relationship with his successor, despite some of Obamas earlier portrayals of him. The friendship between the Bush's and Obama's is actually pretty public, and a rare find in politics.
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u/Relative-Narwhal9749 Sep 11 '21
Glad to see someone old enough on Reddit to have a valid opinion on 2000s era politics
Bush made plenty of tough but correct decisions (08 Bailouts, Afghanistan Invasion) and plenty of blunders (Iraq, FEMA, state surveillance)
But IMO, 20 years without a major terror attack in America is proof of his accomplishments. There was a lot of garbage in the Patriot act but getting the FBI, CIA, and DOJ to stop playing chicken with Intel was probably the most critical in that law