Bush’s Farewell Speech
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bush, History, VideoPresented here in full…
What will we say about Bush in 20 years?
Not that he cares all that much, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be the exact same thing we’re saying now.
The man was, for all intents and purposes, completely unready for the job he was elected to do and he allowed himself to be influenced by those who had very specific partisan ideologies. And that led to one misstep after another. Not only on the world stage, but also on the domestic front.
Still, regardless of his politics, I wish him well and I hope he finds life after the presidency fulfilling.
Goodbye.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 and is filed under Bush, History, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Way to cast your opinion in stone for the next 20 years.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Worst president ever? My dad consistently seems to think so and is not shy about saying so. Personally Bush was no Andrew Johnson, but in many ways he wasn’t far off either.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:30 am
History and historians will only tell us in the far future the legacy of George W. Bush. Having studied in depth our country’s presidents, I firmly believe he was far from our worst president…probably falls among “below average” (similar to a Rutherford Hayes, Calvin Coolidge, etc.) He certainly led us through some tough international problems in our fight against terrorism; following 9/11, the US is certainly more security-concious, etc. because of safeguards his adminsitration put in place; and we have continued to be a world leader in the fight against terrorism, environmental issues and the ever-lasting battles against worldwide sickness and disease. And during much of his administration, the economy thrived, much as it did under the Clinton Administration. Unfortunately, many of our current pitfalls can be traced back to horrible economic policies and lack of action on the part of Bush’s predecessors (although he failed to readily recognize and “patch up” those errors). We can only hope that Pres. Obama will lead us forward to acheive our goals and objectives for economic prosperity, freedom and peace. Revisionist history will be firm on Bush, but kinder than the current populace of history-ignorant Americans!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
What struck me the most about this speech is that – imagining it were being viewed some 20 years in the future – it would seem on it’s face that this was a great President who made great progress both domestically and abroad, that the country was saved from the brink of economic collapse during his watch, that the US is again thriving and that the world is a much safer, happier place. These speeches are historically constructed to recount and relay the progress made at the end of a presidential term, which is appropriate, but this one in particular caught me somewhat off guard with how little of what the man was saying resonates with our current state of affairs. I wish him well, but I am incredibly relieved to see him go.