George W Bush, the victim of an angry American witch hunt

One of the greatest things that has happened to me in 2008, is getting BBC and CNN on the cable subscription plan.

If you have ever spoken to me about American politics, you would know of my strong pro-Bush and pro-republican stand that has also resulted in my reluctance to support Obama for the presidency. All of that mainly stems from the fiercely unjust comments Bush has received over his eight years in the oval office.

BBC just aired the latest debate on Intelligence Squared NY, on the motion of whether Bush is the worst president in the last 50 years. Speaking for the motion were Jacob Weisberg (Slate editor and author of 'The Bush Tragedy') and Simon Jenkins (editor of UK's The Guardian). I won't even go into their reasons for pushing their case, as up to this day, I still can't make sense of most of the criticism aimed at Bush.

But that's not saying that the Bush administration hadn't made any mistakes. Bush's most notable admission was on the mistakes made on the Iraqi invasion.

Believe or not, Bush isn't the one with the lowest ratings in history. In fact, even Jimmy Carter ended his term with ratings lower than Bush.

911
Bush has been credited for making the United States a safer place after 911, and has also taken much of the blame. But the darndest thing that his detractors claim is that the Clinton administration had Osama on their radar and were keeping tracks on him. According to them, Bush's intention was to reverse Clinton's policies. If that were so, wouldn't that make Clinton guity of letting Osama off too??

Iraq
Everybody now knows that Iraq never had those alleged WMD and Bush openly admits that it was a let-up in the gathering of intelligence. But Saddam Hussein is known to fund terrorist activities, and tyrant who takes delight in witnessing the suffering of his people. The United States is the only country who is able eradicate this despotic dictator, and even if the 'reason' for invading Iraq didn't turn out to be true, Bush's decision to invade Iraq has freed her people. Consider that and does it really matter anymore if there were WMDs or not? Would pacifists Clinton or Obama have the polictical bravery to do what Bush did? I doubt so.

Bush got off to a bad start in 2001 even before 911, when the democrats, up til the end, never recognised him as the president. Moreover, they were quick to remind the people of his father's past reign. With the predominantly liberal American media pouncing every error he made, Americans jumped on the bandwagon and went trigger-happy on everything Bush. Bush is the victim of a political system that favours the charismatic. His hilarious grammar didn't help him at all.

But when it comes to balls, Bush has them all... Atheist America just couldn't accept this God-fearing man as a president

Both Jimmy Carter and Mikhail Gorbachev ended their political careers on a low. Carter is now better known for his works on human rights and to a much less extent, his comments on UFOs. If not for Gorbachev's boldness to open eastern europe up with Perestroika and Glasnost, the Soviet Union will still exist today and the Cold War may still be ongoing.

It is of interest to note that the Russians still blame Gorbachev for the poor state of their economy.

While Americans continue to pour scorn on Bush, Iraqis have him to thank for freedom, and the world would have to appreciate him for his strong stand against terrorism. Before Bush, terrorists were, to me, just a team to play for or against in Counterstrike...

Before the debate on Intelligence Squared NY's motion of whether Bush is the worst president in 50 years, these were the figures reflected by a poll on the live audience:
for (the motion that Bush IS the worst president) = 65%
against = 17%
undecided = 17%

After the debate,
for = 68%
against = 27% (up by 10%)
undecided 5%

And in an international online poll,
for = 43%
against = 56%
undecided = 1%