Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Possible reason for Wall Street crisis

I can't heap any praise on George W. Bush, sorry. And since I have not discussed Barack Obama at all, I don't feel obliged to criticize him.

I will, however, heap some praise on the previous Republican Presidents that I can remember:

Richard Nixon: With his 'ping-pong diplomacy' he gave the world hope that tensions between the United States and China would lessen. The way I remember it, there were some real fears that there might be a devastating war between the U.S. and China, but Nixon's successful trip to China changed all that.



Nixon shakes hands with Mao. The world breathes easier.

Gerald Ford: He did a more than adequate job at a difficult time, considering the circumstances during which he took office. He ended the war in Vietnam, which had done very serious damage to America's image abroad.



Gerald Ford ended the Vietnam war.

Ronald Reagan: He was someone I had several objections to, particularly over his supply-side economics.

But the man was amazingly presidential and inspirational. He always seemed at ease and perfectly comfortable and confident in his role as the most powerful man in the world. He was fantastically charming and charismatic. What is more, he never seemed to lose that aura of honesty. When he said, 'Mr Gorbachev, please tear down this wall,' how could the world fail to be impressed? And how could the Berlin wall fail to come down a few years later?



Ronald Reagan, amazingly presidential. The Berlin wall didn't stand a chance.

George Herbert Walker Bush: Compared with Reagan, Bush Senior was charmless and dry. But in his own way, he, too, was so very presidential. I was extremely impressed with how he handled the Gulf War of 1991. I was very shocked myself when Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Quwait, and I very much wanted the United States to teach him a lesson. Bush Senior did so with amazing skill. He managed to forge an alliance with almost the entire Arab world. Consider that! The United States led the Arab world in a war against Iraq, and basically everyone thought that the war was justified! And rarely has the world been so sympathetic to Israel, which was attacked by Iraq during that war, and rarely has the world been so unsympathetic to the Palestinians, who chose to support Saddam Hussein in this war.



George Herbert Walker Bush handled the Gulf War masterfully.

As you can see, all these Republican Presidents have done important things to inspire the world, to turn the world into a better place, and to make the world feel good about America. But what about 'Number 43', George W. Bush? I don't think he has done anything at all to make the world a safer place, and he has most certainly failed miserably at inspiring the world and making the world feel good about America. Two years ago, John Bolton, formerly President Bush's appointed ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview on Swedish radio that when the United States intervenes somewhere in the world, it only has its own best interests at heart, and it doesn't care about what its interventions do to other nations and other people.

What do you think that sort of thing sounds like to the world?

But I have one thing to say for George W. Bush. It could be that he was a better President than John McCain will turn out to be, if he is elected. How so? It has to do with how I think of George W Bush's and McCain's respective temperaments.

I think Reagan and Bush Sr. both had brilliant 'presidential temperaments'. They could remain calm, make good decisions, stay strong without appearing aggressive, and they could inspire others.

My prime objection to Bush Junior's temperament is precisely that he comes across as - Junior. I don't get the feeling that he has any of the wisdom and quiet competence of his father, but rather that he is full of a need to prove himself as good as his father. But unlike his father, he doesn't seem to be really and truly interested in the complexities and demands of the role of being President. Bush Jr. seems a lot more cut off from the real world than his father, who very much seemed to understand the world that he had to influence and guide to the best of his ability.

However, I have never heard anyone accuse Bush Jr. of being aggressive. And I have never heard anyone accuse him of being short-tempered. I have also never heard him speak flippantly about waging war against other nations.

McCain, on the other hand, sang in a public speech that America should 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran'. The lack of judgement and the lack of presidential restraint that goes into such a song is staggering. Doesn't he realize what that sort of thing sounds like to the rest of the world?

McCain sings \'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran\'

The New York Times has repeatedly described McCain as short-tempered. Yes, I realize that the NYT wants to paint McCain in a negative light. But judging from several YouTube clips I have seen, I think it is reasonable to question his ability to stay cool. And this man - singing 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran', doing a bit of a John Wayne swagger, and having trouble controlling his temper - is he America's next President?

I'll say this for George W. Bush. He was never short-tempered, and even though he bombed Iraq, he never sang songs about bombing them. Or about bombing Iran.

Ann