President Bush

[devonin]

Originally Posted by ljw5021

Sometimes you need to think for yourself.

I do, loudly and often.

Originally Posted by ljw5021

I know that must be hard for far lefties, but it's possible.

Ad hominem attack on liberals, -5 points.

Originally Posted by ljw5021

I distinctly recall Bush informing America that the war will be costly,

Originally Posted by Vice President Cheney

My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators

Originally Posted by Meet the Press March 16, 2003

Russert If your analysis is not correct, and we're not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casulties?
Cheney Well I don't think it's likely to unfold that way Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.

Originally Posted by Colin Powell, February 7, 2003

It [the invasion] could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months

Note: This conflict has been ongoing now since March of 2003, 4 years, and 3 months. Your pick of 255, 34, or he doubts 4.5 times longer than they stated.

Originally Posted by Colin Powell June 2005, -after- leaving office

[The insurgency] might last five, six, eight, ten, twelve years.

You'll pardon me if the quotes coming out of the US government suggested instead that the "war" was going to be quick, easy, and fairly painless.

yet in 2002 we were all over the war.

Americans, by polls and public statements, were all over Operation Enduring Freedom because it was directly tracably connected to the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. Further, in addition to directly attacking the terrorist group responsible for the attacks, the Americans were planning to overthrow a -foreign- organization that had -taken over- the government.

Compare this with the support for Operation Iraqi Freedom, which wavered from the outset, and has simply dropped more and more, as the facts of the conflict become widely known. The lack of a connection to Al-Qaeda, the lack of WMDs, the lack of connection to 9/11 all conspired to cause President Bush's approval rating to plummet.

Clinton's 8 years were the worst this country has seen in a long time.

Um...have you actually looked into the nuts and bolts of the Clinton presidency? Let me do a bit of a rundown for you:
1993-02-05 - Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 required that companies grant maternal leave and leave for medical reasons.

1993-08-10 - Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 - Raised income tax rates on the wealthiest americans, created tax cuts for 15 million of the poorest americans and 90% of small businesses.

1993-09-21 - creation of the AmeriCorps volunteer program - a network of more than 3,000 non-profit organizations, public agencies, and faith-based organizations. It was created in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. More than 70,000 individuals join AmeriCorps each year. There have been more than 400,000 members since 1994. The work done by these groups ranges from public education to environmental clean-up

1993-11-30 - Brady Bill - A gun control legislation requiring a 5-day waiting period on handguns, unless or until a background check is conducted.

1994-09-13 - Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act - part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses (see Federal assault weapons ban)

1996-03-14 - authorized $100 million counter-terrorism agreement with Israel to track down and root out terrorists.

1996-04-24 - Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act - to "deter terrorism, provide justice for victims, provide for an effective death penalty, and for other purposes."

1996-08-20 - Minimum wage Increase Act

1997-08-05 - Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997

1998-10-31 - Iraq Liberation Act - A formal statement of the American government of its desire to bring about regime change in Iraq, and bring about the introduction of a democratic state.

1998-12-16 - Operation Desert Fox - A bombing campaign targetting Iraq's ability to effectively carry out a nuclear weapons program

At no point did his approval rating fall below 40%, and for the -majority- of his term in office, his approval rating was between 50% and 70% including the highest approval rating of any president at the time they left office.

I'll quote you some from Wikipedia's entry on the Clinton Administration:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The Clinton presidency left America with record economic growth and prosperity:

Average economic growth of 4.0 percent per year, compared to average growth of 2.8 percent during the previous years. The economy grew for 116 consecutive months, the most in history.[29]

Creation of more than 22.5 million jobs—the most jobs ever created under a single administration, and more than were created in the previous 12 years. Of the total new jobs, 20.7 million, or 92 percent, were in the private sector.[30]

Economic gains spurred an increase in family incomes for all Americans. Since 1993, real median family income increased by $6,338, from $42,612 in 1993 to $48,950 in 1999 (in 1999 dollars).[31]

Overall unemployment dropped to the lowest level in more than 30 years, down from 6.9 percent in 1993 to just 4.0 percent in January 2001. The unemployment rate was below 5 percent for 40 consecutive months.

Unemployment for African Americans fell from 14.2 percent in 1992 to 7.3 percent in 2000, the lowest rate on record. Unemployment for Hispanics fell from 11.8 percent in October 1992 to 5.0 percent in 2000, also the lowest rate on record.[30]

Inflation dropped to its lowest rate since the Kennedy Administration, averaging 2.5 percent, and fell from 4.7 percent during the previous administration.[32]

The homeownership rate reached 67.7 percent near the end of the Clinton administration, the highest rate on record. In contrast, the homeownership rate fell from 65.6 percent in the first quarter of 1981 to 63.7 percent in the first quarter of 1993.[33]

The poverty rate also declined from 15.1 percent in 1993 to 11.8 percent in 1999, the largest six-year drop in poverty in nearly 30 years. This left 7 million fewer people in poverty than there were in 1993.[34]

The surplus in fiscal year 2000 was $237 billion—the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever.[33]

Clinton worked with the Republican-led Congress to enact welfare reform. As a result, welfare rolls dropped dramatically and were the lowest since 1969. Between January 1993 and September of 1999, the number of welfare recipients dropped by 7.5 million (a 53 percent decline) to 6.6 million. In comparison, between 1981-1992, the number of welfare recipients increased by 2.5 million (a 22 percent increase) to 13.6 million people.[35]

This hardly sounds like "The worst the country has seen in a long time" In fact, it sounds quite blatantly like some of the -best- years.

Clinton caused many more much more important problems than he fixed in his time.

Please feel free to provide as detailed a record of the horrible problems Clinton caused as I have the benefits to his country and the world.

Bush got left with Clinton's mess, and he made the best of it.

Clinton left the country with a vibrant economy, a strong sense of national pride, one of the better international reputations it has enjoyed in years, and billions of dollars in budget surplus. Yeah...real mess.