Quote: Why Bush Is Still Being Blamed (and Should Be)

Bush at the moment he learned about 9/11. Are we confused yet?

People often ask why those of us on the left regularly harken back to the Bush Administration when we talk about how difficult being president is today. Here, from Americans Against the Tea Party (here), is a pretty good idea:

George Bush left office with a 22 percent approval rating, according to a Gallup Poll. This is the lowest ever recorded since the pollster began asking the question 70 years earlier.

Here are just a few of George W. Bush’s “accomplishments” as President, from Politial Humor

• Attacked and took over two countries.
• Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
• Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
• Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
• Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
• First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
• First president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
• First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history.
• After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
• Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in U.S. history.
• Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
• Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in U.S. history.
• Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.

And then we hear, "But that was four years ago. Obama should have fixed that by now." Ah, the land of la-la.