# May 2016: Former President George W. Bush, primarily remembered for .... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516 "2006-02-28T20:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/21 "2006-03-01T02:20:42Z")
Bush will be remembered for Iraq. Washington = Revolutionary War Lincoln = Civil War Nixon = Watergate Johnson = Vietnam Bush = Iraq History has a way of sifting out the “noise” and getting to the Big Things (usually the wars). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/22 "2006-03-01T03:55:18Z")
Not wanting to sound entirely cynical, but the guy has almost two years to go. He may yet have a Great Fuckup in him that will dwarf all that has gone before. Scary thought, he? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/23 "2006-03-01T04:17:29Z")
Liberal _American Prospect_ writer Matthew Yglesias, not usually any kind of a fan of George W. Bush, recently had an [interesting take](http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11198) on his possible legacy. Bush, says Yglesias, may be enshrined as the pioneering anti-government conservative who abandoned anti-government conservatism as no longer feasible: > [@](#): > > The interesting question is not whether Bush has a higher commitment to his career than to conservatism – all presidents do – but why Bush’s opportunistic instincts have rendered him, if not more liberal, than at least less conservative, than Ronald Reagan. Answering the question in detail would be difficult, but the broad answer is easy to see: Public opinion changed and became more friendly to the concept of activist government. […] > > Arguably, Bush has been attempting something ambitious and admirable – an attempt to reformulate conservatism for an era in which the era of big government being over is over. […] > > Bartlett joins most of Bush’s liberal critics in suggesting he’ll be ill-remembered by history, but I have my doubts. What Bush is trying to do – whether it be called “compassionate conservatism,” “big government conservatism,” “pretend conservatism” or whatever else – is fundamentally the right direction for the Republican Party. Indeed, it’s fairly common in Europe, where they call it “Christian democracy,” a label that probably wouldn’t fly in a United States that is simultaneously more religious and less sectarian than the Old World. He’s made a hash of it, but one of these days someone will get it right. The salience of the policy details Bush doesn’t care about will fade with time, and he’ll likely be remembered as an innovator, like Woodrow Wilson a figure whose ideas may not have panned out, but did light an important path forward for the future. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/24 "2006-03-01T04:38:42Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Bush, says Yglesias, may be enshrined as the pioneering anti-government conservative who abandoned anti-government conservatism as no longer feasible: I really don’t think Bush went down this road because of an ideological commitment to bigger government. I think he’s just too weak to make the tough decisions that real fiscal responsibility would require. I do agree that he has pretty much demolished the Republicans’ “small government is better” talking point. Strangely enough, most Republicans seem to be in complete denial about this … . ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/25 "2006-03-01T08:52:12Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Not wanting to sound entirely cynical, but the guy has almost two years to go. He may yet have a Great Fuckup in him that will dwarf all that has gone before. Scary thought, he? No, not a chance. His handlers are like us. They realise the disaster they’ve let loose and the failure of GWB means he is a contained power. No more initiatives from this administration. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/26 "2006-03-01T09:11:58Z")
> [@al129](#): > > fill in the blanks He will be remembered as being in office on 9/11, and with being the first president of the great long struggle between the West and Islam. His successor will deal with this also, as will at least the next four presidents. I think he’ll avoid being the one in office when we lose a city. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/27 "2006-03-01T09:55:49Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > I do agree that he has pretty much demolished the Republicans’ “small government is better” talking point. Strangely enough, most Republicans seem to be in complete denial about this … . Even stranger, I don’t understand why the democrats haven’t grabbed this issue as their own. I’d be ranting about the “big-government borrow and spend republicans” on all the sunday talk shows. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/28 "2006-03-01T10:02:34Z")
> [@furt](#): > > He will be remembered as being in office on 9/11, and with being the first president of the great long struggle between the West and Islam. > … Certainly that is what his supporters hope. That while completely wrong in all the details, deliberately and maliciously deceitful, he was in fact a man ahead of his time, bitterly misunderstood. A titan who perceieved the grand sweep of history while pygmies chattered and griped at his footfall. In other words, not a chance. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/29 "2006-03-01T10:44:00Z")
How about the manned mission to Mars on…Alternative Energy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/30 "2006-03-01T14:11:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > **May 2016: Former President George W. Bush, primarily remembered for …** > > …showing us that anyone _can_ become President Of The United States. At least anyone sufficiently wealthy, a former President for a Dad and a well connected, powerful political family. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/31 "2006-03-01T14:45:43Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Liberal _American Prospect_ writer Matthew Yglesias, not usually any kind of a fan of George W. Bush, recently had an [interesting take](http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11198) on his possible legacy. Bush, says Yglesias, may be enshrined as the pioneering anti-government conservative who abandoned anti-government conservatism as no longer feasible: So, basically he’ll be remembered for being unprincipled? ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/32 "2006-03-01T14:57:29Z")
> [@furt](#): > > I think he’ll avoid being the one in office when we lose a city. Other than New Orleans, you mean. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/33 "2006-03-01T14:58:44Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Bush, says Yglesias, may be enshrined as the pioneering anti-government conservative who abandoned anti-government conservatism as no longer feasible: Could that mean that he’s responsible for killing off the political viability of the “drown it in the bathtub” view of government? That there’s no way that contingent can come back into positions of strong influence for another generation? If Bush’s “success” in making the privatization of Social Security politically impossible is an indicator of that, perhaps so. But of course his administration has been defined by 9/11 and Iraq, and especially the results of the latter, and I don’t see any way for that to change. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/34 "2006-03-01T15:34:01Z")
[According to the man himself](http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/28/bush.interview/index.html), he hopes to be remembered as an “agent for peace.” (last line of the article) Pardon me while I stop rolling on the floor laughing. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/35 "2006-03-01T16:27:16Z")
> [@Sevastopol](#): > > Certainly that is what his supporters hope. That while completely wrong in all the details, deliberately and maliciously deceitful, he was in fact a man ahead of his time, bitterly misunderstood. A titan who perceieved the grand sweep of history while pygmies chattered and griped at his footfall. > > In other words, not a chance. :rolleyes: Or he may just as easily be remembered as the guy who mismanaged the first stages of the conflict and made it even longer or worse than it otherwise would have been. History will judge. But to state the obvious, the conflict with Islam did not orginate with Bush, nor will it end when he leaves. He was in office when it zoomed to a whole new level of violence and urgency, which I expect it to stay at for at least a decade or two, no matter who’s in office. > [@Menocchio](#): > > Other than New Orleans, you mean. New Orleans is nowhere near “lost.” I was referring to the nuclear destruction of a US city. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/36 "2006-03-01T16:37:10Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > …bringing the United States of America to the edge of self-destruction. Only if we’re lucky, **rjung** , only if we’re lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/37 "2006-03-01T16:49:39Z")
> [@furt](#): > > But to state the obvious, the conflict with Islam did not orginate with Bush, nor will it end when he leaves. 😕 “Conflict with Islam”? The US and much of the rest of the world (including some Muslim regimes) are certainly having a conflict with particular politicized, violent forms of Muslim fundamentalism. But is it meaningful to broad-brush that as a “conflict with Islam” as an entire religion? Are, say, Palestinians in the occupied territories having a “conflict with Judaism”? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/38 "2006-03-01T20:16:41Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 “Conflict with Islam”? The US and much of the rest of the world (including some Muslim regimes) are certainly having a conflict with particular politicized, violent forms of Muslim fundamentalism. But is it meaningful to broad-brush that as a “conflict with Islam” as an entire religion? Implicit in comments like that, I think, are predictions that this conflict with fundamentalist Islam will spread beyond, and that at some point in the future it may be characterized more legitimately as a “conflict with Islam.” Think of it what you will, I don’t agree (and I sure hope it’s not the case). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/39 "2006-03-01T20:52:53Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I hope you aren’t holding your breath for this. You do realize that the economy is actually on an upswing right now…right? I hate to break this too you but there is very little chance that we will crash down into a Great Depression type event anytime in the foreseeable future. Pat Buchanan disagrees, FWIW. [http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006\_02\_27/buchanan.html](http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_02_27/buchanan.html) And apparently he is not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516/40 "2006-03-01T20:55:18Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > So, basically he’ll be remembered for being unprincipled? That, and for putting the last nail in the coffin of small-government conservatism, the way Clinton did for big-government liberalism. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-2016-former-president-george-w-bush-primarily-remembered-for/346516.md?page=3)