This might belong in IMHO, but I figured it would end up here anyway. Besides, I hope it does provoke discussion.
People who voted for Bush in 2000, what were you hoping from from his presidency? Economically? Internationally? Socially?
Are you satisfied? If you still support him, what changed?
Disclaimer: If you don’t know, I’m a Clintonian Democrat - socially left, fiscally conservative.
I was hoping for a fiscally responsible conservative who would cut taxes, restrain spending, and be business-friendly without dismantling environmental protections. Terrorism and foreign policy did not loom large on my radar in 2000. The results haven’t been entirely satisfactory to me.
Economically I was hoping for the “Corporate America” he ran on. Socially, well, let’s just say that my positions on social matters have changed over the years but were in line with his in 2000. Internationally I was hoping he would ationist President, given his criticism of Clinton/Gore and their involving us in places like Kosovo and Bosnia. As with Crotalus, terrorism on the scale of 9/11 wasn’t even a thought for me.
In retrospect, I don’t know what I was thinking. Such is life.
Correction: I was hoping he would be an isolationist President. Got a little happy with the delete key there.
What Crotalus said, including the “not entirely satisfactory” line. More so if that was ironic understatement.
I was hoping for tax cuts for the rich, huge defecits, cronyism, an unnecessary war in the Middle East, and a guy who can’t form a coherent sentence. Happy as a clam, I am.
Seriously, I didn’t really like either guy (ain’t that usually the case!), but we were at peace, and Bush had the reputation of being able to work well with the other party (in Texas). After the bitter partisan fights that the Pubbies led in the 90s, I was hoping for a more cooperative mood. I usually like divided government, and went against my insticts to vote opposite party for prez partly for that reason. Of course, living in CA, I knew what the outcome was going to be my for state, so it really didn’t matter whom I voted for. I did expect Bush to appoint more originalist SCOTUS justices, which I favor, and in this one respect he did come thru. That was another important factor.
I didn’t vote for him, but in addition to what others have offered, I’d add: to keep Gore out of the White House.
Oops, forgot to add: No way on earth would I have voted for him in '04 after his little adventure in Iraq and his profligate spending. Some of the other failings I could forgive, but not those two (especially the first one).
Well, I voted for the other guy (Browne in this case), but after the election fiasco I was hoping Bush would be a domestic policy president who would, if not shrink government, at least hold the line on expansion ( :smack: ), if not cut spending at least hold the line there as well ( :smack: !!), and pretty much have a mildly isolationist foreign policy stance concentrating more on domestic issues ( :smack: !!!).
As others have said, terrorism a la 9/11 wasn’t even on my radar when Bush became the prez. I was a bit skeptical in the months following Bush’s election, but was hopeful. I figured he’d be at best a care taker president, dealing with the economy which was already tanking post-Bubble, with no real power or influence to get much of his sketchy agenda through…and thus with a limited ability to do any real lasting harm to the nation. I also though he’d probably be a one term wonder much like his dad and that we’d most likely have a new Democrat in the WH (along the lines of a Clintonesqe moderate centrist…thinking obviously optimistically that the Dems would learn from success).
Then we had 9/11 and everything really did change…unfortunately on so many levels.
-XT
I’m a big fan of ironic understatement.
After the election and based on his record, I was just hoping that he wouldn’t manage the US into too big a mess.
I didn’t vote for the guy either, but the sunny side of my disposition hoped for:
A) Some modest reforms in education, since he seemed to work for that in Texas, and
B) Since he just barely squeaked in, some nod toward trying to build some bipartisanship.
What I got was
A) No Child Left Behind, and
B) Karl Rove
I was looking for a President, not someone who would rule by polls. Someone who said what they meant and did what they said. Someone who would not bend to international pressure and stand up for US interests. Someone who would bring respect back to the office of President. Someone who would lessen the power of government to interfer in our daily lives, both personal and business, and hence lower taxes, particularly taxes on the lower classes, like roll back the gas tax. Someone to pull us out of the slump once that we were starting to head into at the end of Clinton’s term.
Boy, you must be disappointed.
I voted for the other other guy (Nader). I live in TX, and know that being Govenor here gives you precious little power to steer government around. The Railroad Commissioner has more power. On the other hand, I could not vote for Gore. The PMRC crap still chaps my ass.
I really did not see that either of them could do much anyway. By my estimate, Gore would be stopped by the opposition congress, and Bush would be stopped by his own foolishness (come on, the 'Pubs have some sense). In addtion, I figured that the economy was gonna preoccupy either of them for most of the first four years at least. When I woke up on 9/11, I knew we had the wrong guy. But ya know, I am still not sure having Gore instead would have made much difference. The missteps would have been in a different direction, at slightly different times, but we would still probably be near the same place as a nation.
Especially WRT “Someone who would bring respect back to the office of President.”
Everything Crotalus and John Mace said. I thought I was voting for someone who was a fiscal and social conservative, yet friendly toward immigration and sympathetic to environmental issues; and someone who wouldn’t involve the U.S. in military misadventures across the globe.
I didn’t make the same mistake twice.