What is George Bush's greatest achievement as president?

[crawjo]

Sorry, you only get to choose one.

[walto]

By 'greatest' you mean something postive here, right? I mean we can't answer "elimination of the surplus" or "entanglement in an endless futile war"--or can we?

[groover]

I'm willing to give him credit for toppling the Taliban and Saddam. The aftermath wasn't handled well, but even most liberals would have regarded them negatively five years ago.

[Paul B]

Fair enough...But his Supreme Court nominees are terrible; the economy has gone nowhere under his administration; No Child Left Behind is a joke, as is the AIDS initiative (both suffered from a lot of rhetoric and very little substantive or intelligent follow through). I'd be hard pressed to name one solid achievement on the part of Bush, though if I were immensely rich, or the CEO of a large corporation, I'd be thanking him for cutting my taxes.

[Vince Kargatis]

Positive-wise, I'll go with this, the declaration as national monument of a huge marine sanctuary near Hawaii, forbidding all commercial fishing.
http://www.hawaiireef.noaa.gov/

[Gary Sisco]

The biggest thing he managed to accomplish is occupying his office.

That's all.

[stonemonkts]

I voted for no terror attacks, whether he is responsible or not.

Toppling the Taliban/Hussein could've been done by Amy Carter, given our military might vs theirs.

[Gentle Giant]

Not attempting to overturn the rule that says presidents can only serve a maximum of two terms.

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by groover

I'm willing to give him credit for toppling the Taliban and Saddam. The aftermath wasn't handled well, but even most liberals would have regarded them negatively five years ago.

It's hard to give him credit for toppling Saddam when the accompanying results created a much worse situation for Iraquis and for U.S. security than Saddam ever did. It's like giving credit to someone for killing a serial killer by setting an arson fire that kills an entire neighborhood.

[groover]

Originally Posted by steve(thelil)

It's hard to give him credit for toppling Saddam when the accompanying results created a much worse situation for Iraquis and for U.S. security than Saddam ever did. It's like giving credit to someone for killing a serial killer by setting an arson fire that kills an entire neighborhood.

Dec. 12, 2005 — Surprising levels of optimism prevail in Iraq with living conditions improved, security more a national worry than a local one, and expectations for the future high. But views of the country's situation overall are far less positive, and there are vast differences in views among Iraqi groups — a study in contrasts between increasingly disaffected Sunni areas and vastly more positive Shiite and Kurdish provinces.

An ABC News poll in Iraq, conducted with Time magazine and other media partners, includes some remarkable results: Despite the daily violence there, most living conditions are rated positively, seven in 10 Iraqis say their own lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve in the year ahead.

I believe most Iraqis are grateful to be rid of Saddam, despite the havoc that ensued, steve. If they hated him enough to forgive burning down their neighborhood, that's their prerogative. My house is still intact, and I'll bet yours is, too.

We haven't had another terror attack here, so I'm not sure what metric is used to gauge our level of security. There may be more people who say they hate us, but it hasn't yet resulted in another successful attack.

Maybe I should have chosen the AIDS initiative. What's bad about that?

[groover]

Originally Posted by rostasi

Yup, they hated Saddam. They hate us more.
Oh, for the days before our invasion they cry.

True that they hate us more, but where are the polls showing that they want Saddam back? Only the Sunnis want that, and they are a significant minority in Iraq.

[Dr Dave]

George W. Bush has had a positive achievment during his Presidency, and it is too bad you didn't even know enough to list it as an option. The Bush Administration has initiated and so far sustained an international crackdown on sex trafficking. As far as I can tell, this is the single truly positive accomplishment of his presidency. Read about it here: Human Trafficking

[groover]

Originally Posted by rostasi

He toppled the Taliban?
On which planet?

They have made a resurgence, but they no longer have complete control of a national entity. They wouldn't be resurging if they never took a fall. Most Americans wanted something done to set back Al-Qaeda after 9/11, and were glad to see Afghanistan invaded. Bin Laden is still hiding, isn't he? He's not sitting comfortably in Kabul planning another attack.

[stonemonkts]

Originally Posted by rostasi

He toppled the Taliban?
On which planet?

In the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban was in ruins. Sure, they are there now to some extent, as well as Al-Quaeda, but the widescale use of a country as a training ground for anti-western terrorism doesn't exist anymore, so in that sense the country was transformed.

Obviously diverting attention to Iraq can be deemed a fatal error, at least in terms of long-term stability, not only in Afghanistan, but throughout the so-called "Axis of Evil".

But who really knows. I sure don't. I'm just spouting my opinion.

Originally Posted by rostasi

No attacks here again - maybe because they are paying attention this time and are scared for their own political hind-ends?

Yes, and I also believe they have been determined enough to use almost any means necessary to contain terrorism. I'm just saying, they've certainly demonstrated a great deal of will...at the expense of civil liberties, but that's the way they've chosen to approach the problem.

Believe me, I am no apologist for this president. I can't stand him. But maybe at least in the case of preventing further attacks here (and elsewhere too, I imagine), Bush can be said to be supportive of whatever has been done behind the scenes.

[Gary Sisco]

No one's shot him, yet.

There's an achievement. I mean, considering.

[groover]

Originally Posted by rostasi

Also, I never said that any Iraqis wanted Saddam back. How in the world did you get that from my statement?

He's what they had before the invasion, right?

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

As far as I can tell, this is the single truly positive accomplishment of his presidency.

What do you view as the negatives of my choice?

[tippy]

How do we know the Taco Bell scallions weren't the result of terrists?

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

George W. Bush has had a positive achievment during his Presidency, and it is too bad you didn't even know enough to list it as an option. The Bush Administration has initiated and so far sustained an international crackdown on sex trafficking. As far as I can tell, this is the single truly positive accomplishment of his presidency. Read about it here: Human Trafficking

And, since you brought it up, in 1986 when he was a 12 year old boy from Toronto, Craig Kielberger, founded an organization, which he still heads, called Free The Children which addresses much the same thing, though in a slightly different direction. His focus was, and is, the thousands of children who were forced to work in the carpet industry in India and Pakistan.
His organization is even more active now, keeping the plight of exploited children in the forefront, promoting education and children's rights, worldwide.

He delivered impassioned speeches before government leaders in countries all over the world, including yours, when he was still a young teenager.
He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the same year that Jimmy Carter was. Jimmy Carter was given the Nobel, but Kielberger continues the work he started when he was 12.

Here's the link:
http://www.freethechildren.com/about...kielburger.htm

So, kudos to George W Bush for his work with human trafficking. If we check back in ten years, we'll see how many child prostitutes are living productive lives due to his efforts.
As long as we still hear of child sex tours to Thialand and other far-eastern countries, the project is a work in progress.

[Noj]

A woman on the Baghdad streets this week was quoted as referring to the Saddam years as "the golden age."

[Gary Sisco]

He's succeeded in destroying any claim to human-rights morality the US might have had. That's quite an accomplishment. I mean, considering.

Another has been to render the torture of human beings a subject for polite conversation. That's quite an accomplishment. I mean, considering.

He's been able to get away, thanks to Congress, with totally abandoning the US Constitution without even pretending not to. That's quite an accomplishment. Everyone else who's done in American history at least tried to pretend they weren't or hadn't.

Hey, he's been a busy, if amazingly stupid and moronically stubborn, president.

[Gary Sisco]

He's managed to get many, many more people killed than Americans were on September 11.

An eye for an eye? Forget about it. Tens of thousands of eyes for an eye is more like it.

Blind justice, indeed.

Hell, he's managed to kill more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein by a large shot.

An accomplished man, he is. That's a fact.

[LennyH]

That's easy.

Getting that menace, Tommy Chong, off the street.

[Sandi22]

Saddam was nothing more than a tin horn dictator. Our own Oregon National Guard alone could have brought down.

The Taliban was not brought down, they only scurried into hiding, & out of up front power, but they're on the way to the front of the line once again, with their bronze age tactics, and with the raising of opium poppies to decimate the West as during the Regan/Bush Bush years. Pity the poor Afghan farmer, this being one of the only crops he can subsist on, and one he knows how to grow. We were to do something about that, or so we were told, but no, it's back to business as usual for the Taliban; us forgetting about a country with little natural resouces; they have nothing we need.

We don't know enough about the Chief Justice Roberts and Alito, they are relative newcomers and not a lot is known as to what their contributions and ideals will do for our country. They could end up being the most influential, the most important part of this administrations legacy, the ones we will either be glad for or fear.

From what we're hearing from many teachers and law makers, this No Child Left Behind is a wonderful sound bite, but a disaster for our children and school districts. A boondoggle.

The African Aids initiative will tell us more in the future, it sounds good, but the jury is out on this one at this time. There have been charitable acts apleanty in the past, where tons of foodstuffs and medicines rotted and lost potency while sitting in rat infested warehouses, never to be used, rendered useless. We'll have to wait and see on this one.

Maybe one good thing is this, maybe, just maybe in the future we won't let our selves be taken in by a few catch phrases, and a man caught up in the emotion of the moment? One, who after all was all too willing to go after other prizes once the initial shock of a tragedy wears off? One moment in history doesn't give us the whole story about someone. We need to judge a mans capabilities and driving forces on more than a few days of trauma.

I know this, we didn't vote for him. We never considered him our president.

[kenny weir]

My outsider vote: Being so awful, ignorant and venal that, along with all the various interest groups etc etc, that (ironically) he has reminded Americans just how great they and their country can be.

[Borat Pri Hagafen]

Scott voted 'other' and didn't say why, which is clearly against the rules as stated. Stop lurking and say something!

[Jon Abbey]

Originally Posted by Borat Pri Hagafen

Scott voted 'other' and didn't say why, which is clearly against the rules as stated. Stop lurking and say something!

aw, you miss him, that's cute. I told you he was our long-lost, irritating as hell, brother...

[hornplayer]

I voted "Other," and that would be not toppling over. How DID he accomplish that?

What a ditz! He's the major embarassment of my lifetime, as a public figure, that is.

[Gary Sisco]

Someone told me he can tie his own ties.

For all his accomplishments, he'll never be the man his mother is.

[steve(thelil)]

Millions of Iraqis are now living in chaos, in fear, in poverty, in grief for dead family and friends and in constant danger of being killed themselves, with the situation seeming to have been deteriorating rather than improving for quite awhile.

The idea that the majority of them would believe that deposing Saddam was worth the results of the war is either mind-numbing or the result of that condition. If Bush's greatest achievement is something that wasn't worth the consequences, that's some greatest achievement. If even his staunchest supporters can't state simply that he's been a competent President, that speaks volumes.