Cut Bush Some Slack on This One

CBS' final approval rating for George W. Bush pegged him at 24%.  That is the lowest approval rating of any president since the advent of scientific polling, save Nixon who fled office halfway through his second term with a similar 24% approval.  It's way lower than Jimmy Carter's, whom the GOP loves to portray as a weak and unpopular president.  To be frank, it's gutter and there's no denying it.

So it's clear George W. Bush was not liked.  He was vastly unpopular.  He oversaw the worst economic decline of our nation since the Great Depression.  He lied us into war with Iraq.  He spent money like a drunken sailor and turned over to his successor a $1.4 trillion budget deficit, the largest in world history.  It was almost as if everything he did was terrible.  America today is better off without him even though we are still heavily burdened by his policies.

It's easy to pounce on such an unpopular and horrible president.  Heck, I've devoted entire months to bashing him.  Every time he speaks there's ample room to bash him; it's just so easy.  His latest interview with Peter Robinson at the Hoover Institute just isn't one of those times, however.  I do have to draw the line on this.

Bush haters recklessly portray his newest interview as recalling that he was awesome.  I've watched the interview and read portions of the transcript and I have to disagree with that assessment. 

To me Bush is referring to his time in office as "awesome," not his presidency.  And who wouldn't think that being POTUS is awesome?  I know I would.  And sure as president you are powerful, the most powerful person in the world to be honest.  With that comes fame too, which doesn't in any way mean approval.  Paris Hilton is famous but very few of us would give her our approval.  He is right to say he was famous.  There has to be an understanding that not everything is black and white with Bush.  With that,  I do agree 100% with everything President Bush said about the awesomeness of the presidency.