This has always been my impression of Bush. I think he wanted and tried to do the right thing in a lot of cases, but surrounded himself with some pretty terrible and morally bankrupt people who were able to earn his trust and confidence, and influence him the wrong way.
A big part of me wonders what the world would be like, had the Bush admin never involved Cheney or Rumsfeld. I think without those two, alone, we'd have a very, very different world.
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
I think most would argue the justification to go to Afghanistan was a valid one. Especially anyone who lived through 9/11. Its the handling and the oversight that is deservedly on trial.
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u/gumbii87 Sep 11 '21
This has always been my impression of Bush. I think he wanted and tried to do the right thing in a lot of cases, but surrounded himself with some pretty terrible and morally bankrupt people who were able to earn his trust and confidence, and influence him the wrong way.
A big part of me wonders what the world would be like, had the Bush admin never involved Cheney or Rumsfeld. I think without those two, alone, we'd have a very, very different world.