(December 4, 2012 at 10:24 pm)apophenia Wrote:(December 4, 2012 at 2:48 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Um - he left the country in a shithole. There is something of a difference between doing things and doing things well.
So then you're granting my point that he was an effective president.
That depends on how you define 'effective.'
If you mean that he got what he wanted, short term, yeah, he was effective. He got his huge tax cuts for the wealthy, he pushed fundamentalist Christian agendas, he sent us on two wars (one is questionable, the other wholy unnecessary) with no end in sight and he got his huge bank bail-outs.
However, as for the consequences for his actions, we have one of two options: either he was incredibly short sighted and didn't see these problems coming or he was so malicious that he didn't care, or wanted, the bad stuff that came with it. He alienated most of the international community from us, he pushed the Republican party further and further to the crazy right, he set the stage for the Obama presidency more than anyone else in his sheer ineptitude, he let gas prices balloon under his watch, he allowed ordinary citizens to lose their homes to predatory banking practices and every single time he got in front of a podium, his speaking skills where right up there with ol' Sloth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Zw1AjW7Zs
So, yes, he got things done. But when he did something, it generally went bad.
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"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama
"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama
