The Effects of George W. Bush

George W. Bush junior, the 43rd president of the United States, fighting his way into the hall of fame of “what not to do”. What is a bad president? Instead of providing a definition, the following points allows you to create your own unique one. Bush’s flaws, faults, lack of communication skills, irrational and illogical ways are all described and paired with examples in the upcoming paragraphs. 

First off, Bush had weak communication skills. Although he had many flaws of all shapes and sizes, his inability to communicate in serious situations was the most obvious. This particular flaw quickly built him his undesired reputation. For example, when a country’s situation is not great and when times are bad, a solution is to suggest new strategies, rules, regulations, etc. Bush and his team did not have a problem conducting these new ideas. The true underlying problem was that Bush was not good at presenting them. Every time a new idea or policy was to be introduced, or maybe if a certain act was recently signed by this president, there is no doubt that an announcement or presentation was necessary. Bush’s wobbly speeches threw off his credibility. To be blunt, it seemed Bush did not often know what he was talking about or why he was talking about it. Meanwhile, whether in presentation or not, Bush also had trouble defending his arguments. This could be due to the fact that the arguments he was meant to be defending might not even have been his. Nevertheless, his stumbling words made him look unsure and nothing short of unreliable. After defending an argument comes justification. Sometimes WHY is actually more important than WHAT. To sum the above points, George W. Bush could not perform when being put on the spot or under any form of pressure. Notably, Bush did make an effort to concentrate on the vocabulary aspect to some extent. However, the right vocabulary with bad presentation does not necessarily get the message across to the public. Content matters. 

Next, the transition from George Bush to Barack Obama has been nothing but positive for Obama. After Bush’s 8-year term, the American public was growing especially annoyed of his specific flaws and weaknesses. The general attitude of the public eventually appeared to be that they were happy with any new president because no one could be any worse than Bush. Under these conditions, Barack Obama and John McCain based their presidential campaigns for the 2009-2013 term accordingly to Bush’s unsuccessful policies. In other words, they based them on the United States’ main problems, such as economy, unemployment, health care, disaster relief, foreign aid, etc. Obama’s natural flow of words and confident speeches gave him an advantage over McCain’s mediocre communication skills. Each president has their specific qualities but because Bush was so weak communication-wise, the public favoured Obama. On that account, when observing Bush’s general image or reputation, the preceding and succeeding presidents play a part. Markedly, Bill Clinton left Bush with a 4.2% unemployment rate. At the end of Bush’s term, Obama was left with a 7.2% unemployment rate, a significant jump of 3% in 8 years(1). Bush surely deserves part of the blame. That said, it is important to remember that Obama’s qualities, good intentions and plans still seem respectable and very possible. However, the presidential campaigns would definitely have been run differently with someone other than Bush for the first decade of the 21st century. 

Third of all, while the previous words address Bush’s inability to think on the spot, the next bit concentrates on his general lack of rationality and common sense. Bush lost all credibility after creating a list of unattainable goals, making risky, overdue or inaccurate calculations leading to loss of money or resources and not knowing how to deal with disaster relief. For example, whenever a conflict came up between the states and an opposing country he did not hesitate to react offensively, whereas if the conflict was of natural origin or simply within the country he did not react at all or the reaction was delayed. He quickly sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq and even kept them there for what is almost a decade today. On the other hand, when 2005 rolled around the corner and Hurricane Katrina hit hard, he was flustered and scared. Frankly, a president who can not deal with every type of situation is not fit to be a president, especially of such a powerful and dominant country in today’s world. 

On the whole, George W. Bush junior is an exemplary definition for a bad president. His bad communication skills limit him from being able to produce a good presentation, from justifying any policies he puts into effect and most importantly the fact that he can not get a message across to the american population. He has built himself an ugly reputation which is getting uglier as people realize how long it will take to undo the damage he has caused the United States. Last, his hesitant ways rose to the surface when an unexpected event took place. These elements are a recipe for disaster and Bush incorporated every last one of them.

References:

(1) The US Unemployment Rate January 2001 to January 2009 (2009)