Last summer, I found myself the lone dissenter, at a small dinner party stocked mostly with Columbia law professors, to the contention that W. has presided over the worst administration in American history. I'm no fan of the Great Decider; I was simply worried about our presentist bias. But with the news of the Bush Administration's upcoming record-setting deficit, I think it makes sense to try to put everything in perspective. It seems fair to me to say that this is a failed presidency, but let's at least try to consider the Bushies' main talking points.
PROS
- Increased AIDS funding for Africa
- No Child Left Behind (YMMV)
- Persuaded Libya to give up its weapons programs
- Created the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands (June 2006)
CONS
- Eight years of deficit spending
- Ill-advised invasion of a sovereign nation (Iraq)
- Poor execution of same invasion
- Deterioration of situation in Afghanistan due to abovementioned invasion
- Denial of, then long-delayed and inadequate response to global climate issues
- Politicization of patronage system to an unprecedented degree
- Politicization of federal science initiatives
- An alternately weak or underperforming economy (though there's plenty of blame to go around here)
- Hurricane Katrina
- 'willfully looked the other way as Mr. Putin ... throttled a free press, jailed political rivals and used Russia’s oil and gas riches to blackmail neighbors', while also needlessly antagonizing the Kremlin with plans for a missile defense system in central Europe and expansion of NATO to Russia's borders
- Failed to pursue further nuclear arms control agreements with Russia
- ...
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