So, what did Bush do right?
As we get ready to say goodbye to W, a lot of people will criticize him over many decisions. A bunch will be completely deserved. Spending, inability to talk worth a darn, bunker mentality, spending, spending. Did I mention spending?
Anyway, he got a lot right too and I think on his last 2 days, we should focus on those. For this post and discussion, list some things you think he did right. Make them defendable. I know a lot of people will mention the obvious ones, so I will start with a not so obvious one. Retirement accounts.
This is one area that Bush will never be given credit for but there are a lot more people a lot better off for it. Bush pushed for and was able to pass massive expansion of IRA and 401k and other self directed retirement plans. He was able to make those changes permanent too. Before his first term, if you made 50k a year and had a 401k, you could put 15% max or 7500 dollars into it and your employer had a matching max as well. The cap was 10500 so even if you were lucky enough to make 80k, you could only put 10500 in. Now with that 50k, you can put a full 16500 this year and your employer can help out up to 25% of your salary or 12500 in this case. So from 10500 max to 29k. That is a lot of extra cash for retirement and those who take advantage will be better off when social security goes belly up.
IRA’s went from 2k to 5k max. Other retirements went up as well. Plus if you are 50 or older, you get even more to put in during the peak earning years. This is one accomplishment that is never touted, but I think will have massive positive impact for a lot of people.
So that one is mine. What’s yours? He wasn’t 100% wrong on 100% of his ideas so even our liberal readers and flamers can come up with something real.
Lord Bitememan says:
To be honest, I agreed more with Bush than I did with the party. I liked the comprehensive immigration reform idea, and I supported the credit bailout and the auto bailout. I also don’t think that Iraq was necessarily a bad move on his part. I think history is going to reveal that our containment policy there wasn’t a sustainable foreign policy, and that sooner or later we were going to have to make a call on what our level of involvement was there.
PrivatePigg says:
Bush’s legacy in 50 or 100 years will be this: no repeat terrorist attack. Liberals can bitch and moan all day long, but it is an objective fact that we were not subsequently attacked after 9/11. That’s huge if you consider how easy it would be to cause mahem in a city somewhere in this very big country. This is my vote for the most important thing he did right.
And I’m with you… the spending…
The Interloper says:
“it is an objective fact that we were not subsequently attacked after 9/11″
That’s because it was George Dubya and his cronies who staged it to help his pals in Enron you moron! Good riddence to that horrific waste of skin. He will be remembered in 100 years time as an abberation to justice and a war criminal.
franksalterego says:
The Prescription Drug Plan for Seniors
There’s been a lot of moaning about the structure of the benefits - the so-called “donut-hole” in particular.
But, ask any senior, particularly those on a low, fixed income, who was going without other essentials in order to pay for catastrophic drug costs, if the plan wasn’t a Godsend.
The Gentle Cricket says:
What I think hasn’t been discussed enough is how President Bush set a line on stem cell research. He was derided as being anti-science, when in fact he was just demonstrating a commitment to life. It is, of course, valid to debate when life starts, and many people disagreed with him on this. However, he set a line where the government would not be involved…and during the course of his presidency we saw advances in science where we no longer need to develop embryos to generate stem cells.
BlueCollarDollar.com says:
Mr. Bush had questionable motives making whatever he touched, each idea he had, and every signing statement he penned, less than pure.
When he expanded the retirement investment account limit, on the surface it seemed like a good idea. But for whom? And who took full advantage of the opportunity? Those that could take advantage of it were not the average investor (and wage earner you write of)but those with a much greater need to offset taxes: the top 5%.
This new influx of investment cash allowed Wall Street to invest more dollars, create newer and more imaginative ways to lure these investor, and subsequently fall under the weight of its own belief that all bubbles are good bubbles.
Very few of those 80k wage earners were able to put the maximum contribution in those retirement accounts and even fewer at the 50k level. The change in contributions did not increase the amount of money invested for over ninety percent of the end-users.
And then, as if in a cruel joke on all of us, he managed to unwind whatever good you may have thought he did. The end result: the number of people anxious to “max out” their 401(k)s now has fallen to near zero.
It is almost as if each step forward was one placed in a mine field of negative results.
I propose his AIDS effort in Africa instead.
Lord Bitememan says:
Ah, and what would a George W. Bush retrospective be without the patently insane 9-11 conspiracy nut and the bitter begrudging liberal. I forgot to add one very important accomplishment of Bush’s, he pissed off the left of this country every last bit as much as they so richly deserved to be.
Beth says:
Wow, project much? LOL!
Ditto what LB said - the entertainment of the 9/11 conspiracy nutters is a gift that keeps on giving. hahahaha Otherwise they’d still be babbling about “fake” moon landings and the terror of fluoridated water!
Anyway, I could pick a whole lot of things he did right. For brevity, I’ll say no more terrorist attacks on US soil, no more Saddam, and the elimination of the Taliban from power. Afghanistan still has its problems, but that’s the tribal culture, and it’s never going to be a tidy democracy (nor will Iraq be a perfect democracy, for that matter, but for somewhat different reasons). Whether the BDS-ravaged loons want to admit it or not, we are all safer. Let’s just hope Obama doesn’t muck it up with Iran.
Beth says:
Yep, me too. :)
PrivatePigg says:
Interloper said: That’s because it was George Dubya and his cronies who staged it to help his pals in Enron you moron!
Just promise me that if we are attacked during an Obama administration, you recognize that it was “Obama and his cronies who staged it to help foment world revolution” or some other such nonsense.
Greg says:
That is one pathetic set of so called accomplishments.
Worst President Ever
raz0r says:
I agree with most of what Dubya did. I can even understand his position on immigration, even if I didn’t agree 100% with it.
I agree about Iraq even though the left keeps harping about WMDs, all the while ignoring the myriad resolutions that Saddam didn’t comply with that were justification enough.
I’m uneasy about the bailouts, especially the auto industry. Don’t agree with that one at all.
Say what you will, Dubya was his own. He wasn’t too concerned about pandering to people for the sake of opinion polls. Can’t say that about the majority of politicians.
And last but not least, can I get me a tinfoil hat from Interloper?
raz0r says:
I second what LBM said about Dubya making the collective left wet their undies on a daily basis before he even took the oath.