Understanding that most of you despise Bush, I ask that you put aside your hatred for a moment and attempt to objectively answer a question about his presidency.
Assume for the moment that the Iraq War had not happened, nor was there ever a threat of it. I suppose we can also throw in the stipulation that after 9/11 we did go into Afganistan and it went well-- which for the most part it has until recently where the Taliban has been reading from the Iraqi insurgent's playbook.
Ok, based on these conditions where would you place the Bush presidency in terms of greatness? I ask this because the Dow broke another new record today (12,741), inflation is well under control, the economy is humming along at a very sustainable and prosperous 7% per year, taxes are low, and personal income is up 3% across the board. Based on the whole "It's the economy, stupid," standard by which Clinton is revered, Bush has, to my eyes, far surpassed the previous tenent of the Oval Office. Now add to Bush's accomplishments the creation of the largest ever nature preserve off Hawaii, the most racially and genderally diverse administration in the history of our country, the killing or capture of terrorists who attacked our embassies and naval ships during previous administrations, and increased funding for education every year he has held our highest office.
By any criteria, once you set aside Iraq, I'd judge him to be a wild success-- and this would apply to any president regardless of his political affliation.
Let's hear your argument for or against Bush based on those assumptions I specified.
Totem