President George Walker BushJanuary 20th, 2009. The end of possibly the most maligned political term ever in American Politics. A man who had given eight years of service to his country was now being booed by the very people who had put him in office in the first place. The man being booed, of course, was George W. Bush. In the year 2001 he had been perhaps the most beloved man in America with near all-time high approval ratings that were estimated to have been about 90%. However, by late 2008 Bush’s ratings had taken a complete 180 turn and he know held the record for the lowest ever presidential approval rating (17%). How could someone possibly lose so much popularity, so fast? Simply put Bush made some mistakes, but that is not all, the public gave up on Bush when he needed them the most.
The saga of Bush on the national scene begins way back when he became the governor of Texas. In 1994, after working on his father’s Presidential campaign, Bush ran for governor against a popular Democrat incumbent. Bush ended up winning the election handily, however, shortly thereafter reports surfaced about smear tactics used by Bush in his campaign, claiming that Bush had started untrue rumors about his opponent. The scandal created the first major backlash against George Bush as a politician. Critics claimed Bush was a “trickster” who had had no morals and would do anything to get in office. Some people rose in defiance of Bush but were quickly quieted as he met with great success in the areas of crime and education all while enacting the state’s largest ever tax cuts. This all led to increased popularity for Bush and he won reelection with a record 69% of the popular vote. As his popularity grew even greater, Bush decided that he would run for President in 2000.
As the final nomination for the Republican Presidential candidate drew nearer, it became clearer that the only person who stood in Bush’s way was John McCain. What followed was described by the Boston Globe as being one of the most, if not the most, negative campaigns ever in American politics. For example one ad implied that John McCain’s adopted daughter was actually an illegitimate child. This campaign added to the image that, in many liberals minds, Bush was very untruthful and corrupt in his values. Bush was able to easily wrap up the Republican nomination eventually, and he was set up to face Vice President Al Gore of the Democratic Party.
Little did anyone one know that the 2000 election would go down as one of the most controversial in the history of the country. The election was so close in Florida that multiple recounts were necessary and eventually found its way to the Supreme Court which ruled that Bush had won the Presidency despite being beaten in the popular vote by over half a million votes. So a cloud hung over a very happy day for Bush as he was the first president in over a hundred years to win the Presidency while losing the popular vote. On his inauguration day, 10,000 protesters rallied not far from the White House, decrying what they perceived as an unfair election, even though the Supreme Court had ruled in his favor. Furthermore there were attacks on his character including claims that he was a dumb cowboy and that he had the lowest IQ ever for a President. Most estimates put his IQ at around 130, so it is unlikely that he had the lowest IQ ever for a President.
Despite these attacks on his character Bush pushed through with his agenda. He started talks with North Korea over the Nuclear issue and resolved the debate over stem cell research . At this point in time Bush’s approval ratings were around the 50-60% range and suddenly the big event came that completely changed the dynamics of his presidency. On September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda fanatics flew planes through the World Trade Center in the largest terrorist attack of all time. Following the attack President Bush gave an emotional speech to the American people and announced plans to create a Department of Homeland security. This was the height of Bush’s popularity as he set a Gallup Poll record with a 90% approval rating. Everybody, it seemed, approved of the war on Terrorism and bin Laden became the country’s greatest villain. Although his success in the war on Terror early on was mostly responsible for his spike in approval ratings, he also became more popular by enacting the largest tax cut in American history. Bush also passed the No Child Left Behind act which sought to decrease gaps in education between different income and racial brackets of the population. The No Child Left Behind Act enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress including an endorsement by the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy. However liberal critics often pointed to Bush as being indifferent to education needs and that he underfunded educational programs. Many of the populace, in fact, were misled to believe that Bush’s educational policies were a complete failure. When asked what he believed was the result of Bush’s educational policies, Asad Rizvi responded that they were a “complete failure.” This assessment is interesting considering that Bush increased federal spending on education by $14 billion during his first four years in office and state test scores for math and reading have increased drastically.
Yet another controversial act by Bush in his first term was to create the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. The focus of this office was to give government aid to faith based charitable organizations. He also removed limits that barred the government from giving money to religious organizations. Critics slammed Bush for violating the principle of separation of church and state. However this was ridiculous because any religious group had access to receive funds Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or anything else. Critics continued to attack, however, saying that almost everyone on the office’s advisory was Christian. Well that would make sense considering the fact that 80% of the people who live in the U.S. are Christians. Regardless, Bush’s critics never seemed to let the issue die.
As the economy continued to struggle during Bush’s presidency and his opinion polls continued sliding, some ugly rumors about Bush began to be circulated. One of the most ridiculous was that Bush himself had helped plan the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Another bad rumor was that the President was a racist and that he hated black people. This could not be farther from the truth, in fact. He appointed the first black Secretary of State, Colin Powell and then succeeded him with Condoleeza Rice a black woman. Just for good measure he appointed Alberto Gonzalez, a Hispanic, to the post of Attorney General. So what did these critics even base their arguments on? They pointed to the fact that Bush had hinted that he didn’t completely agree with Affirmative action, which to begin with is completely slanted in favor of minorities.
The simple fact of the matter is that although Bush made some mistakes with the economy, he otherwise made America a better place to live. He made America safer by bringing the fight to the terrorists, he improved education and he brought financial support to charitable organizations all while staying true to his morals and America’s.