Miss Bush Yet?

Some time ago, I saw that all-too familiar picture of a goofy looking President Bush with the message next to him reading:

Miss Me Yet?

Underneath that was the retort, which featured a picture of the now famous Grumpy Cat, with the caption:

Why Aren't You in Jail?

Imagine a president who the biggest domestic security collapse in American history, two illegal wars that dragged America's name through the mud in the international community, the opening of concentration camps, numerous corporate scandals, many involving his Vice-President, who shot a man in the face while in office, and the biggest economic crisis the nation has faced since the Great Depression.

Now, imagine his party, after such an embarrassing resume, having the gall to put up a picture of him (and not even a flattering one) all around the country with the caption asking Americans: "Miss Me Yet?"

Yet, the man who inherited a budget surplus, but who left office with over a trillion in deficits, plus six trillion extra to the national debt for his policies of tax breaks and incentives for the rich and major corporations is apparently supposed to represent good times and responsible leadership by way of comparison to Obama.

The thing is, all kidding aside, he was probably the very worst president in history. I mean, his approval ratings among his own party members was in the tank! As unimpressive and disappointing as President Obama's time in office has been, his approval ratings never sank too far down among members of the Democratic Party, his base of support.

Not that approval ratings are indicative of how good or bad a politician necessarily is. But in the case of George W. Bush, you can say that he definitely earned this pool poll showing.

He and his administration conducted themselves like arrogant buffoons while in office.  Bush in particular was compared to a cowboy in the manner in which he did things, and generally, that was not considered a compliment.

Yet, despite this show of bravado, it was under his tenure that the greatest economic collapse in the better part of a century followed just a few years after the greatest security letdown in at least six decades, and possibly in all of American history. Couple that with his administration's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina and his relentless efforts to engage in an unjustifiable war on false pretenses, coupled with the generally unpleasant character and excessive secrecy of the entire administration's approach to things, and you have a horrendous stretch of American history that began on January 20, 2001, and finally ended on January 20, 2009.

The United States is and was far from being a perfect country, but it was in a lot better shape when Bush first took office. The economy had been booming in the nineties, and there was a budget surplus. The name of the United States was respected around the world. It was not as strong as it once had been, but it was still undeniably the envy of the world as the only existing superpower, and thus had to be taken seriously.

Eight long years of the Bush presidency, however, and all of that changed. A complete economic collapse and subsequent recession were evidently a lot closer than we were told. The good name of the country had been dragged through the mud with the lies used to justify the case for the war that the administration clearly wanted and, to top it all off, the military had it's weaknesses on display far more than it's strength during the Iraq War.

All of that after making so many promises as a candidate for president. He promised to be the environmental president, although he cited "new research" just two months into his first term to justify gutting effective environmental legislation to the best of his ability. Later on, when he had to admit that the evidence suggested that climate change/global warming was real, he still did nothing. He also promised to bring integrity back into the White House. Whatever happened to that?

When you think about it in that manner, he truly could, and maybe should, rightly be seen as the worst president certainly in modern American history. Frankly, I think the case can easily be made that, given the stakes, he was the worst president in history.

Miss him yet?

Now, to be fair, Obama has not been nearly as much of a relief as I personally had hoped. in fact, he seems much more of the same.

The further on the Obama administration goes along, the more like George W. Bush's administration it seems.

That probably explained the disappointment that Obama's presidency has been to this point. After such a failed presidency, most people just wanted and, frankly, expected Obama to at least make a real effort to separate himself from President Bush in a real, meaningful way.

However, it should be said that Obama has begun to distinguish himself on several fronts in recent months, including opening the lines of communication again with Cuba, pushing his immigration reform plan, and reaching an environmental treaty with China. If Congress will only serve as an obstruction to progress, he seems to be saying, then it is time to do everything possible to circumvent the legally, if possible, and wherever possible.

In any case, despite the general disappointment that the Obama presidency has been, it will never come close to being on the level of failure of that of his predecessor.

And while America braces for the next presidential election, and yet another Bush is favored to win the Republican nomination, there really are questions that the nation should ask itself this time.

Since we can safely assume that a Jeb presidency would pretty strongly resemble that of "Dubbya", now is the time to truly ask if we miss him yet?

My own answer to that question matches Grumpy Cat's counter question: Why isn't he in jail?