Not a great debate. Not a pit forum.
Me? No. I personally think he’s doing a pretty piss-poor job. And I’m not going to debate the issues here.
Again, the point of this thread is not to argue the issues. The Gore Vs Bush, Bush vs Kyoto, Bush vs Issue-du-jour-thing has been debated, flamed and teeth gnashed enough.
Simply, who amongst us, thinks GW is doing a good job, and is genuinely happy with his performance so far?
We-ell. How many other presidents have:
[li]Tripped on ecastasy on National TV?[/li]
[li]Freed Jack Kevorkian to “take care of” his aging cat?[/li]
[li]Used the SDI system to bomb Austria while simultaneously stealing cable?[/li]
[li]Been impeached and eventually become a wrestler?[/li]
I’m telling you, this is the most fun we’ve had in years!! What? You’re telling me Comedy Central isn’t doing a documentary on the Bush Family? 
hmmm…well chalk up one for indeference.
I believe that he is doing a great job thanks to his no-nonsense style and his excellent selection of key advisers. His management is great. However, his speaking style is not great and he is not naturally a charismatic man. But, all things considered, I would rather have a president that makes wise choices rather than one that is a great bullshit artist (Clinton) or one that merely sways like a palm tree against the winds of public opinion (repeat Clinton).
Lessee.
Living in the armpit of Texas as I do (fabled place of last election for Dubya) I can honestly say I think the man is a profound example of the Peter principle – i.e., what happens when you promote someone to a position they are frankly not qualified to hold. Texas governors have very little power, so there really wasn’t much damage he could do here (not that the damage hasn’t already been done.)
But in less than eight months after taking office, he’s already:
done his best to circumvent a woman’s right to choose and doing so through means that the voting public has no way to stop (not to mention supported several different health care policies that basically make it plain he considers women to be worth nothing more than uteruses on legs)
is pushing for multiple forms of legislation that are HUGE violations of the Constitutionally mandated separation of church and state;
is anti-anything as far as alternative lifestyles are concerned; (and incidentally, I’m hetero and happily married)
is pushing an educational ‘reform’ that I actually did my master’s thesis in education on (the voucher system). Even a peon like me was able to come up with solid evidence that the class the vouchers help most are the people whose children are already going to elite schools.
is giving his oil buddy friends free rein to destroy the few last places in the U.S. that haven’t been drilled, dozed, developed or concreted over;
has made a travesty of our electoral process (which I, child of a family that has fought in every war since the Revolution find unforgivable); and
has made the U.S. a laughing stock in multiple world forums for several different reasons.
I honestly did try to give the guy a chance, since I didn’t have much choice otherwise. (No, I didn’t vote for him, but a vote against Bush in Texas was pretty much thrown in the trash. Probably literally.) But he has yet to espouse ONE thing I thought was needed, necessary, or useful to the American public as a whole, and is doing his best to eliminate personal freedoms that I happen to hold dear.
So, no, I have to say I am one incredibly dissatisfied taxpayer. Any chance for a recall, do you think?
BTW, did anyone else notice the news squib that the guy who wrote “Fortunate Son” supposedly committed suicide? Interesting, no?
I am sure that the oil company executives and other cronies of El Jefe Jorge Bush believe he’s doing a great job.
Lousy job. Terrifyingly so, really – I haven’t worried this much about our safety, let alone our image as a nation, since … well, ever. I remember a few “Oh, crap we’re in trouble” moments during Clinton’s administration, and a few with Bush Sr. and Reagan. I’ve had more such moments since this idiot took office than with the past three presidents combined.
Check this out for a little scorecard of how Junior is doing.
Contrary to what alot of Dopers think, I am neither a conservative nor a Republican. But I did vote for Bush (lesser of several evils don’t you know).
So far, Bush has reduced my taxes, hasn’t signed any prohibitive gun laws, continues to oppose legal murder (abortion), and doesn’t partake in the pagen religion of worshipping the Earth as Algore,Nader, and many dopers do. Bush is a goofball, but he’s a better goofball than anyone else on the political horizon. I approve not only of what he’s done, but what he has NOT done, also!
Pasadena?
Before the election, I gave thought to rewriting My Fair Lady with Cheney and Bush in Rex Harrison and Julie Andrew’s roles, ending the script with Cheney saying “Eliza, fetch me my nomination.”
Bush did not have a platform until months after he announced his candidacy. He has not surrounded himself with brilliant people who are carrying out his goals; he has been surrounded with smart people who are running the office. Whether they are doing a good job is subject for another discussion, but no, Bush is not doing a good job.
As a woman, I have no issue with either of these. Murder is murder.
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Separation of church and state isn’t to protect the state from the church, but the reverse. Why else do we have “In God We Trust” on our currency?
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Not that big a deal. He certainly isn’t alone. I don’t necessarily agree, but most of his constituents do. And so did the vast majority of his predecessors. No foul, there.
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I’m not qualified to speak about this one.
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At least he’s honest about it. What about where Gore’s financial interests lie? (And we all know that “Gore as Environmentalist” is a big fallacy. Don’t we?)
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No less than what his opponent did. You can’t judge one without judging the other in the same fashion.
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Ain’t the first time. Won’t be the last. Clinton did just as much to make us a laughing stock. A buddy of mine in England asked me, during the Clinton administration, if, next time around, we might be considering electing someone who had some personal dignity.
I think we have. G.W. has integrity - something that has been sorely lacking in the White House in the last decade.
Needless to say, I voted for him. And I’d gladly do so again. Better than electing the hypocritical liar who opposed him. (However, as an Arizonan, I voted for McCain in the primary.)
Lionors, most of the issues you mention are a matter of debate, thus not really appropriate for the OP’s purposes (the OP asked for no Great Debate). They also have more to do with your personal disagreement with his views, rather than his competency at being President. However, I must dispute some of your comments:
I am a woman, yet I have made thousands of choices every day that haven’t been hindered in the slightest way by GWB’s opposition to killing fetuses. In fact, I regard the implication of the euphemism “a woman’s right to choose” (as if abortion is the only important female concern) as in fact treating us as walking uteruses…just uteruses that need to be scraped out to maintain a tenuous grasp on “equality” with the “ideal” unpregnant male.
Anti-ANYTHING? Again, a debatable issue.
True, Bush is far from being a champion of gay rights, but he is not a raging homophobe either. He has done more than other Reps had by appointing Scott Evertz for example (although maybe Evertz doesn’t count in your view because he happens to be a pro-life gay ?)
Whether you like Bush or not, atleast you know exactly what he stands for.
Lionor, Bush may not favor “alternate lifestyles” but atleast he will not double cross gays with “Don’t ask, don’t tell” nonsense. Gays know exactly where they stand with Bush. He doesn’t approve. Neither do I. And as far as making a travesty of the elctoral process, well if the presidential election were straight popular vote, there would never have been a hillbilly president from Arkansas. I’m impressed to see that your family has fought in every war that America has waged. I’m sure they are all proud that we had a president that protested against some of them while they were being shot at. Hell, even prouder that he bombed an aspirin factory while getting head in the oval office. Oh, and Bush a laughing stock? Name a modern president that we and the world have not picked apart. Many people make a living doing this no mater who is in the White House.
I think he is doing a horrible job.
I don’t see why he won’t let the government recognize a gay marriage. Give me a scientific reason why being gay is wrong. All the reasons i’ve heard are religious or bible-related in nature. And i thought that we didn’t combine church and state in this country.
Personally, i can’t wait for bush’s term to be over. I just hope we get some better candidates in the next 4 years.
I’ve really never understood this line of reasoning. Near as I can tell, this is a way for Christian conservatives to reconcile the Republican party’s environmental stance with the Christian idea of respect for Creation.
I’m sure it would surprise former VP Gore, a noted Southern Baptist, that his environmental policies could be considered “pagan Earth worship”.
As for the OP, Bush is doing exactly as I expected him to–talking in sound bites, maintaining a weak grasp of the issues while his advisors handle the details, and generally leaning further to the right than his campaign wanted us to imagine. I actually believe that he will win another term, although I hope I’m wrong.
Dr. J
:looks out window, see’s world’s still there:
I guess he’s doing about as well as I expected him to.
–sublight.
Without getting into the great debates that were raised here. I give him a B maybe a B+ (that check I just got from the IRS didn’t hurt his score :D). His general point is that Gov’t is too big and throwing money into it doesn’t make things better and hurts us in general.
As for school vouchers - Not everyone can take advantage of them it’s true but more people can if vouchers are made available. Our public schools are failing us and throwing money at it is counter productive (actually worsens test scores). If we can get more kids into schools that actually work that would be good for our societ…whoa just slipped into GD terratory.
… Good job vote from me
So far I like what he has been doing. Without getting into the great debates, I agree with him on most issues, particularly the more controversial ones (tax cuts, abortion, Kyoto, vouchers, etc). Where I disagree with him, both parties seem on the same track (death penalty, campaign finance reform) or are tempests in teapots (missile defense). The most important issues are really out of any President’s hands (the economy, the nations general moral climate). I also enjoy watching the unthinking rage he evokes in people who thinks he is satan incarnate because he dares to disagree with them on issues (or is a member of the “wrong party”).
On the other hand, he hasn’t been tested. All of the issues in this presidency so far are mostly manufactured by the 24 hour news media hungry for a story. (Kyoto, stem-cell research, etc. have been issues bubbling in the background for decades and some news organization needs to fill time between the Condit story so it declares there is a national debate. I know no one who was talking about stem-cell research until the press started obsessing). The country is at peace, is generally in good financial shape (despite this little hiccup/correction which the press is trying to turn into the next great depression), crime rate is generally down, and there is no real crisis looming. The only thing close to a real issue Pres. Bush has had to deal with is the China spy-plane issue, which he handled adequately.
So so far I am satisfied, but ask me again after something happens.
I think he’s doing just fine. Those who don’t seem to fall into three (usually overlapping) categories:
People still resentful that Bush won to begin with.
People who disagree with Bush’s clearly-stated agenda and positions, and who are disappointed by the fact that he’s stuck to them rather than magically changed his mind after inauguration.
People who consider criticism of Bush by left-wing government leaders (like Tony Blair) as proof that he lacks stature abroad, but of course consider immaterial the fact that right-wing leaders (like Ariel Sharon) do like him.
To sum it up, left-wingers are dissatisfied with Bush because he’s not one of them. How quaint. :rolleyes:
On the plus side, he managed to get his two biggest domestic agenda items (education reform and tax cut) passed mostly intact through Congress, he got our men and plane out of China without accepting blame for something that wasn’t America’s fault and without violence (this is the trigger-happy cowboy he’d been portrayed as?), has Putin receptive to the notion of altering the ABM treaty in favor of his missile-defense plan…I’d say his only big minus was Jim Jeffords’ defection, but Control of the Senate isn’t everything. He still has the House, and there are enough moderate Democrats in the Senate (Miller, Breaux) whom he can convince to vote with him when the situation demands it.
Bush in 2004 (well, assuming his next 3 1/2 years are similarly successful)! Those of you who insist on thinking f him as a “smirking monkey” can have fun watching your chosen candidate join Ann Richards and Al Gore whose visceral hatred of anything Republican led them to downplay the man’s strengths.
In the tiny, inconsequential jarbaby world, I cannot complain. I have my job, I got a raise this year because our company made more money, I’m getting a check from the government next week so I can go to Vegas. I have a nice 401K and a savings account, as far as I know I can still get an abortion (even though I never would), I live in a safe neighborhood with running water and electricity and my dog is not only well fed but fat.
I’m afraid that there were many people (not all, not most, many) who as soon as they heard W was even RUNNING for president, started stockpiling hatred, criticism and jokes for the next four years, regardless of what the outcome is.
I think Bush is 68% less smarmy than Bill Clinton (though I didn’t hate him either), I appreciate his sense of humor about himself and I think he’s more of a REAL person than I’ve seen in office in a while.
Is he great? Am I excited for him to be pres? No. But I simply can’t pass the time bitching about it.
jarbaby
Libertarian, voted for Harry Browne.
Politically, I think he’s doing okay–not good, not bad. The tax cuts were nice but don’t go nearly far enough, and as far as I can see he’s not doing much to decrease the size of government. I think he is personally an honorable person. I much prefer to have him in the White House than Al Gore. He was left with some pretty hefty energy problems by Bill Clinton, and while he’s not handling them excellently, he is at least trying to do something, rather than waiting to dump the mess on the next president’s lap.
I guess what I don’t understand is the sheer VENOM some people have for the man. Really, if you look at his policies he’s not terribly more conservative than Clinton was, and the only reason conservative pundits aren’t pointing that out is because they’re so thrilled he’s NOT Al Gore.
Will they be making room for him on Mt. Rushmore? Nope. But, geez, people, it’s not like he’s Pol Pot or something.