Would it be possible for him to pull off a Jimmy Carter? Granted the Carter Administration is still viewed as something of a disaster, but the man himself has managed to build up a sterling personal reputation through his humanitarian work. What would it take for Bush to get back into the public’s good graces?
Hard evidence that an alien symbiote had attached itself to the base of GWB’s spine thirty years ago and has been manipulating him ever since.
Baby steps, people! This would be a good, genuinely brave, integrity-based start.
Find some way to reverse the damages in death and destruction he caused by invading Iraq.
That would mean somehow resurrecting all our military personnel who have died there, as well as the hundreds of thousands of innocent dead Iraqis.
In other words, there is nothing he can do.
Besides, he never was in my “good grace.” I hated him from the getgo and for him to get “back” into my good graces would mean he had a spot there in the first place.
If the outcome is positive, people are willing to accept the sacrifice. George Washington, FDR, Harry Truman are all war presidents responsible for far more death and destruction than George Bush.
If Iraq turns out positively and becomes a strong peaceful ally for democracy and human rights (and I’m not holding my breath), then we will see a significant turn around in how Bush is viewed today.
From a non-USA perspective I doubt that in Europe there is anything that can be done to save his reputation unless he does a complete U turn on something basic to his administration- admit that there was collective cockthink in the decision to invade Iraq for instance, and set up a meaningful foundation to return the Iraqi people to the level of modernisation and social structure it had before the invasion.
I fear he will always be seen in Europe as a clown.
get a better team and a better agenda. Dropping the notion that “God” wants him to bring democracy to the Middle East would also help.
I would disagree on the general assessment of Carter’s reputation. His latest pronouncements on Israel show him to be an irrelevant old fool and his inability to follow convention and refrain from personal attacks on other presidents reveal him to harbour an undue amount of bitterness. Very unbecoming.
This is exactly right. If there’s no Al Qaida hits in the next couple decades due to our playing the away game…and if Iraq and Afgh turn out, in say 20 years, to look like Turkey… and even better if democratic influences spread to Saudi, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan (and even Iran?) then his strategy will have been proven correct and made the world immeasurably safer for the US.
Not likely, but also not impossible.
At best that would, if it happens within the next ten years, allow die-hard right-wingers to claim he had done some good. Others would simply say that had happened despite him rather than because of him.
I see that Dubya has an autobiographical book coming out in November:
I’m genuinely curious whether anything he will—or could—say will genuinely “change perspectives” about him and his administration—though probably not enough so to actually read the book for myself.
Death mends all reputations. This should not be taken to mean that I want him to die, just that people will largely stop saying mean things about him when he does.
See Jackson, Michael.
Hmm, the editor of that book will certainly have earned his fee. 
What’s it going to be called? “My Pet Goat, Part 2?”
I’m not sure that Carter is really the appropriate comparison. People certainly may have thought Carter incompetent, but I don’t think he was ever (except on The Simpsons) regarded as actually evil. Carter’s reputation was of a basically decent man who got in over his head. When he’s hammering together a house frame for Habitat for Humanity, he’s not in over his head any more, so his basic decency comes back to the fore.
It depends on who you are talking about. After what he’s done, nothing could mend his reputation with me. He’s a torturing, mass murdering monster and an utter incompetent. The Right on the other hand will no doubt look for any excuse to call him a success.
He has the same options available that Pierce, Buchanan and Harding had, and will likely use them to the same effect.
Even if that happens, Bush’s legacy will still be dead in the water.
Suppose there’s never another terrorist attack like 9/11. Why should Bush get credit for that? There was never an attack like that prior to Bush being President and there will be an attack like that after Bush was President. What people will remember is that Bush was the only president who allowed a major terrorist attack like that to happen.
Same with capturing Osama or achieving peace in the Middle East - if they happen now, why would Bush get the credit? Suppose special forces capture Osama tomorrow. And Iraq and Afghanistan become peaceful democracies. What people will remember is that Obama was able to do what Bush couldn’t.
Harding died in office. Did you mean Hoover?
[quote=“Thudlow_Boink, post:11, topic:549835”]
I see that Dubya has an autobiographical book coming out in November:
Clearly false advertising. Bush couldn’t be honest or direct if Cheney held a gun to his face.