# How has Bush failed the US?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-bush-failed-the-us/439932>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 3, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-bush-failed-the-us/439932 "2008-03-03T09:28:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-bush-failed-the-us/439932/61 "2008-03-07T01:46:56Z")

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[QUOTE=Cardinal]  
I hate Bush, but the “I’m the commander guy” was really “I’m a commander guy”, supposedly meaning that he **listens to the commanders on the ground**.  
[/QUOTE]  
[That is not at all clear.](http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0449246620070504?feedType=RSS)

> [@](#):
>
> Bush, whose approval ratings have dropped as the Iraq war moves into its fifth year, contended that he had the authority to send the troops.
> 
> “The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear – I’m a commander guy,” Bush said.
> 
> The official stenographer of the event recorded Bush as having said he was “the commander guy” and some reporters did as well. It was not far off from his past description of himself as “the decider.”

The “commanders on the ground” do not make the decision to send more troops, as Bush said - that’s the job of a Decider Guy.  
Oddly enough, as that link shows, Perino’s “clarification” was

> [@](#):
>
> What I recalled was that he said ‘I’m a commander guy,’ meaning that he’s one of the people that **listens to the commanders on the ground**

Bolding added 2 places for comparison.

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**Author:** ![Paper\_Pusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9adbd/32.png) [@Paper\_Pusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paper_Pusher)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-bush-failed-the-us/439932/62 "2008-03-07T05:33:46Z")

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[QUOTE=Voyager]  
Easier to ask how he didn’t fail. I’m with him on immigration reform, but he couldn’t get his own party to support it. I’m sure there is something else he did right, but I’m not thinking of anything right now.  
[/QUOTE]

If we’re going to count stuff he couldn’t get passed then I would say that he failed our country when he tried to privitize social security by lying to us and telling us that it would solve the social security liquidity crisis (when in fact it would only make it worse).

On the plus side, he has been spending money in Africa on worthy causes to buy some international goodwill.

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