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Last update - 00:00 10/11/2008
The Bush legacy
By Moshe Arens
Tags: Israel News, Barack Obama 

What kind of a legacy is George W. Bush leaving behind? He will surely be remembered for the resounding defeat his party suffered in the recent elections - in the Senate and House of Representatives, but first and foremost the great victory of Barack Obama. Obama defeated John McCain, but actually he was running against the record of President Bush and won. It is said that under the circumstances, any Democratic candidate would have won the presidential election, and Obama did it in a big way. So was Bush really one of the worst presidents in U.S. history, as the electorate's verdict in 2008 might indicate? The jury is still out, and in time, in historical perspective, it might look different.

When the primary campaign began almost two years ago, the central issue was the United States' involvement in Iraq. The Democratic candidates competed with each other in their call for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. They wanted to set a date for such a withdrawal and in Congress deny the president the funds to support a continued military presence. It certainly looked like the operation in Iraq was going nowhere and that it had been a mistake from the get-go. The Democrats said: "Better cut our losses," and most of the American public seemed to agree.

President Bush, however, refused to concede. Even more, he insisted on the "surge," increasing the number of U.S. troops, and against the advice of some his senior military advisers more troops were sent to Iraq. It worked. The casualty rate of the military and Iraqi civilians came down significantly, the Iraqi government began functioning, and Iraqi forces began taking over the battle against terrorism from the American troops. It did not take long before Iraq ceased to be a major issue in the campaign. There seemed to be little point in raising the issue when it began to look like the calls for a hasty withdrawal had been mistaken and the operation might yet end successfully.
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This turn of events might have acted in favor of the Republican candidate, McCain, who had backed the operation in Iraq and supported the surge. On this issue, so important to America, maybe Bush and McCain had, after all, been right. Then along came the economic crisis, getting worse by the day and sweeping all other issues to the sidelines. The incumbent president and Republican party were blamed for it and considered incapable of dealing with it. Were they not the representatives of big business? Obama's call for "change" reverberated throughout America, and as the campaign proceeded, his victory looked more and more certain.

Today it is pretty clear what caused this, the worst economic crisis in America since the Great Depression of 1929, by now engulfing the entire world. It was the subprime housing mortgages provided and funded on a massive scale by two federal institutions, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and the leveraging and hyper-leveraging of debt through new and sophisticated financial instruments like derivatives and hedge funds by investment banks. Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha and no opponent of market economics, referred to them as "weapons of mass destruction" already some time before the storm hit the markets. And that they turned out to be. They succeeded in destroying wealth on a massive scale in record time.

And the guilty party? Who had the task of supervising and regulating this activity before it turned into a hurricane? That was the job of the Federal Reserve System, an independent body, responsible for monetary policy and supervising and regulating the United States' financial institutions. It is headed by the chairman of the Federal Reserve. First appointed by Ronald Reagan and reappointed by successive presidents, Democrat and Republican, the chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006 was Alan Greenspan, an illustrious economist of sterling reputation, considered to have infallible judgment on economic matters. He did not believe in regulating this activity.

According to Paul Krugman, who this year received the Nobel Prize for economics, Greenspan "is the person most responsible for the crisis." Greenspan himself admitted in testimony in the U.S. Congress on October 23 that he had been "partially wrong" in opposing regulation. And yet the incumbent president, George W. Bush, and the ruling Republican party inevitably took the blame for the crisis, and this had a major effect on the election results.

The economic crisis will in due time be overcome by measures taken by the present administration and Obama's administration. But what will happen in Iraq? That will determine the legacy of George W. Bush in the scales of history. If terrorism there is defeated and Iraq becomes the first Arab democracy, it will have a profound effect on the Middle East and entire world. In that case, Bush's Iraq operation will turn out to have been an event of great historic significance. That more than anything else will determine his place in history.
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  1.   Moshe Arens - Misreading the `Surge` 09:46  |  Mark of Lewiston 11/11/08
  2.   Moshe. Arens 09:57  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/11/08
  3.   OF COURSE 10:22  |  indrajaya 11/11/08
  4.   Danegeld 10:24  |  Clickfool 11/11/08
  5.   moshe takeoff the rose glasses 10:43  |  tony 11/11/08
  6.   The worst mistake of Bush... 10:44  |  Esther 11/11/08
  7.   1 Mark is correct. Also still a huge danger of Civil War. 10:46  |  Michael 11/11/08
  8.   Moshe Arens: 2 times correct, and 2 times wrong..... 10:48  |  Swiss (Dino) 11/11/08
  9.   Few more facts 10:49  |  Gabriela 11/11/08
  10.   no one can talk agood war and that was georges error 10:49  |  v.hardman 11/11/08
  11.   Correct 10:58  |  17 11/11/08
  12.   #1 mark good intentions NOT supported by history 11:40  |  victor hardman 11/11/08
  13.   Not Bush but Israel! 11:45  |  Dav 11/11/08
  14.   Swiss Dino - 4 times wrong 11:55  |  Ehud 11/11/08
  15.   Moshe Arens makes a case for American aggression 12:09  |  Natallie Durson 11/11/08
  16.   Moshe Arens defender of Bush 12:17  |  David Schiby 11/11/08
  17.   #13 Who`s fault is it? The jews or the bikers? 12:41  |  Chris 11/11/08
  18.   To Natallie: nobody is more ant-Islam than their fanatics 12:42  |  Israeli citizen 11/11/08
  19.   # 14 Ehud quoting things I never said..... 12:45  |  Swiss (Dino) 11/11/08
  20.   Pacifying ME 12:56  |  17 11/11/08
  21.   WRONG 13:07  |  Maral 11/11/08
  22.   long live Hamas, Arafat, Castro and all murders 13:56  |  Swiss Dino 11/11/08
  23.   Bush, Sharon, Blair and Rice are names that history will damn (Ge 14:48  |  Aounist 11/11/08
  24.   Arab democracy 14:49  |  Motic 11/11/08
  25.   For Natallie Durson # 15 15:13  |  Clickfool 11/11/08
  26.   So, Moshe Arens won`t miss an ... 15:39  |  Edith 11/11/08
  27.   For Natallie and Clickfool 15:42  |  Ehud 11/11/08
  28.   Iraq is ok now? 15:51  |  H50 11/11/08
  29.   Don`t confuse an ideologue with reality Mark of Lewiston 16:02  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
  30.   Great accomplishment 16:28  |  Gene 11/11/08
  31.   Mark Lincoln-the surge and the dumbing down of America 18:17  |  examiner 11/11/08
  32.   Spot On , But Just One Omission 18:30  |  Tod Zuckerman 11/11/08
  33.   Thanks to Natallie 18:57  |  Helle 11/11/08
  34.   H50, no just better 19:02  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
  35.   When a nation starts a war 19:12  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
  36.   #22-You forgot the ( brackets around Dino) 19:27  |  Roo 11/11/08
  37.   Yes, but... 19:31  |  icarus 11/11/08
  38.   7 Michael in UK - The Drawdown Test 19:32  |  Mark of Lewiston 11/11/08
  39.   Beaufort 19:37  |  Haim 11/11/08
  40.   12 Victor - Your Logic Leaps too Far 19:58  |  Mark of Lewiston 11/11/08
  41.   # 36 Roo, that`s why I didn`t even felt the necessity.... 20:32  |  Swiss (Dino) 11/11/08
  42.   Agression Natallie? 20:46  |  Yosemite 11/11/08
  43.   Bush Legacy 21:01  |  Steve Gure 11/11/08
  44.   Ehud: Remember the joke? 21:08  |  Ilan 11/11/08
  45.   Moshe Arens 21:10  |  Timmy in Florida 11/11/08
  46.   Mark Lincoln - Separating Fact from Spin 21:11  |  Mark of Lewiston 11/11/08
  47.   Bush Legacy 21:22  |  David Zukerman 11/11/08
  48.   Analysis from UPI 21:29  |  Mark of Lewiston 11/11/08
  49.   Also, a Conservative Europe is Bush Legacy 21:29  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 11/11/08
  50.   You are 100% right 22:44  |  Salty 11/11/08
  51.   Bush Legacy 22:56  |  sunday 11/11/08
  52.   Bush Legacy 23:13  |  Elias 11/11/08
  53.   Al-Sabah - Mark of Lewiston 23:17  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
  54.   Addendum To 42 23:19  |  Yosemite 11/11/08
  55.   Mark of Lewiston - forces agreement 23:20  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
  56.   The legacy of President Bush 23:33  |  Andrea Maitan 11/11/08
  57.   # 42, YOSEMITE 00:23  |  indrajaya 12/11/08
  58.   David Zukerman 01:13  |  Mark Lincoln 12/11/08
  59.   #22, FAKE SWISS (DINO)...lol 01:30  |  VIPER 12/11/08
  60.   #41, the REAL swiss (dino) 01:32  |  VIPER 12/11/08
  61.   Bush has guts ...soooo easy to criticise 01:41  |  rich 12/11/08
  62.   Bush Legacy 02:27  |  Lea 12/11/08
  63.   #15 Durson....the fondest wish of anyone 03:00  |  Lynn 12/11/08
  64.   THE JURY IS NOT OUT!!! 03:12  |  Baruch 12/11/08
  65.   Targetted Assination 03:15  |  zechariah 12/11/08
  66.   # 1 to mark of lewiston re: strategy 05:58  |  eric 12/11/08
  67.   # 13 to dav re: protection 06:18  |  eric 12/11/08
  68.   Obama was elected for the color of his skin not for his ability 06:58  |  POP 12/11/08
  69.   Indrajaya 07:02  |  Yosemite 12/11/08
  70.   # 64 to baruch re: "the jury" 07:11  |  eric 12/11/08
  71.   # 57 hey indrajaya re: approval ratings 07:53  |  eric 12/11/08
  72.   Yawn. And pigs might fly. 07:58  |  honestywithoutmercy 12/11/08
  73.   The Israeli Steven Colbert 08:07  |  ccb 12/11/08
  74.   # 31 to examiner re: "sons of iraq" 08:15  |  eric 12/11/08
  75.   # 57 hey indrajaya re: approval ratings (2nd try) 08:35  |  eric 12/11/08
  76.   # 64 to baruch re: "the jury" (2nd try) 10:12  |  eric 12/11/08
  77.   Hardly tough questions, Moshe Arens 10:34  |  Johnboy 12/11/08
  78.   # 60 VIPER 11:00  |  Swiss (Dino) 12/11/08
  79.   eric- 2nd Try 15:22  |  examiner 12/11/08
  80.   3 PRESIDENTS MOVING WRONG WAY 19:31  |  Barry S. Roffman 14/11/08
  81.   Durson brilliantism 22:50  |  Jose Marcio 20/11/08
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