Criticism of George W. Bush

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George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States of America, has drawn significant domestic and international criticism since his election in 2000. His level of popular support has varied widely, from the highest ever recorded by The Gallup Organization at 90 percent to among the lowest for any sitting President. Currently, most major polling outlets have his approval ratings in the 30s, rivaling Richard Nixon's unpopularity at the time of the Watergate scandal. His opponents have criticized his role in the controversial 2000 election, his way of fighting the War on Terrorism, his support for the USA PATRIOT Act and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, among many other acts and issues along the way.

Some of Bush's opponents use a term previously ascribed to his father, "Bushism", to describe Bush's colorful mistakes when speaking. Bushisms have been widely popularized and archived across the Internet due to their often humorous nature. In addition, he is often disparagingly called "Dubya", a stereotypical Texan pronunciation of the letter "W" which is Bush's middle initial.

[edit] Iraq

Pamphlets given during a protest for Bush visit to Bogotá, Colombia in March 2007, depicting his image a la wanted poster. Translation in the image page.

Main article: Opposition to the Iraq War

President Bush has taken a significant amount of criticism for his decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 and his handling of the situation afterwards. As President Bush organized the effort, made the case, and ordered the invasion himself, he has borne the brunt of the criticism for the war.^[1]

Critics of the invasion claimed that it would lead to the deaths of thousands of Coalition soldiers and Iraqi soldiers and civilians, and that it would moreover damage peace and stability throughout the Middle East. When this later turned out to be the case, public support for Bush and his policies dropped sharply.

Another oft-stated reason for opposition is the Westphalian concept that foreign governments should never possess a right to intervene in another sovereign nation's internal affairs. Giorgio Agamben, the Italian philosopher, has also offered a critique of the logic of such pre-emptive war.

Anti-war sentiment has led to a number of large protests in the US, among the most visible being the one led by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, and some reflection in electoral politics. A significant minority of mostly Democratic politicians, such as former Vice President Al Gore, opposed the invasion of Iraq. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President in 2004, voted to authorize the invasion, and said during his campaign that he stood by his vote. Howard Dean, a rival for the nomination, ran on an anti-war position, but did not favor quick troop withdrawal. Dennis Kucinich, another candidate for the Democratic nomination, favored replacement of the U.S. occupation force with one sponsored by the UN, as did Ralph Nader's independent presidential candidacy.

[edit] Torture

Main articles: Guantánamo Bay detainment camp and Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse

Another point of discussion has been whether the detainment and treatment of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and the Guantánamo Bay detainment camp constitues torture or not. Although a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll "found that sizable majorities of Americans disagree with tactics ranging from leaving prisoners naked and chained in uncomfortable positions for hours, to trying to make a prisoner think he was being drowned."^[2]

President Bush has stated that "We do not torture."^[3] Yet, many people and governments^[4][5][6] don't see it that way and have staged several protests.^{[7][8][9][10]} These sentiments are partly a result of the pentagon's suggestion that the president can legally torture anyone he deems to be a threat to security,^[11] and because the Bush administration has repeatedly tried to stop attempts at limiting torture,^[12] including legislation by President Bush to exclude himself from the laws created by the McCain Detainee Amendment. Furthermore many people^[13][14][15] are concerned by the Bush Administration's use of Extraordinary rendition, where individuals are sent to other countries where torture can easily occur without any form of oversight. Bush defends this practice on the basis that:^[16][17]

[...] the United States government has an obligation to protect the American people. It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way. And we will do so within the law, and we will do so in honoring our commitment not to torture people. And we expect the countries where we send somebody to, not to torture, as well. But you bet, when we find somebody who might do harm to the American people, we will detain them and ask others from their country of origin to detain them. It makes sense. The American people expect us to do that.

A pentagon memo lists many interrogation techniques which were requested and approved during the presidency of George W. Bush on the basis that "The current guidelines for interrogation procedures at GTMO limit the ability of interrogators to counter advanced resistance".^[18] The Bush administrations connections to torture has been one of the main considerations in the movement to impeach George W. Bush.

[edit] Domestic criticism

Domestic criticism of Bush has waxed and waned throughout his administration. Before 9/11, Bush was reviled by the bulk of the American left, mostly for his role in the controversial 2000 election, and for perceived shortcomings in his No Child Left Behind program for education.^[19] The next major domestic item which Bush faced significant opposition to was his program of tax cuts, codified in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. Both acts ultimately passed, but calls for their repeal lasted until the end of the 2004 campaign. Democratic candidate Howard Dean in particular called for a repeal of the part of the tax cuts which affected the wealthiest Americans in order to fund public health care programs and reduce the federal deficit.^[20]

After Bush was re-elected, he made Social Security reform a top priority. He proposed options to permit Americans to divert a portion of their Social Security tax (FICA) into secured investments, creating a "nest egg" that he claimed would enjoy steady growth. This led Democrats to label the program a "privatization" of Social Security. Bush embarked on a 60-day tour to shore up public support for the plan, attacking the political reaction against reforms. Ultimately, however, no consensus on a plan could be reached within the congressional Republican party, and Bush was left without any political will to pass his reforms. The issue was dropped, and the status quo maintained.^[21]

Bush has been increasingly forced to defend his actions on many fronts and has been unable to generate widespread support in the nation as a whole.^[22] An example of the general displeasure and extent to which many Americans have lost respect and confidence in the President lies in his recent election as the "Biggest Tool of 2006" in an online poll created by Comedy Central.^[23]

The Republican Party's crushing defeat in the 2006 US midterm elections is taken as another sign of plummeting public support for the president. After the Democratic Party's victory, MSNBC reported that "The war in Iraq, scandals in Congress and declining support for Bush and Republicans on Capitol Hill defined the battle for House and Senate control".^[24]

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

Main article: Criticism of government response to Hurricane Katrina

The President would come under more criticism when the powerful category 5 Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast region in the early hours of August 30, 2005. In the wake of the hurricane, two levees protecting New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain collapsed, leading to widespread flooding. In the aftermath of this disaster, thousands of city residents, unable or unwilling to evacuate prior to the hurricane, became stranded with little or no relief for several days, resulting in lawless and unsanitary conditions in some areas. Blame for inept disaster response was partially attributed to state and local authorities, but public outcry in the disaster's early hours was largely directed at the Bush administration, mainly FEMA^[25] and the Department of Homeland Security^[26] alleging weak crisis management and coordination. Rapper Kanye West said in a relief fund raising concert that "George Bush doesn't care about black people," alleging that Bush did not do anything to help because most of the victims were black.^[27]

The criticism led to the resignation of FEMA director Michael Brown, and eventually, Bush himself accepted personal responsibility for what he deemed, "serious problems in the federal government's response" in a September 15, 2005 press conference. Currently, the administration is investigating itself, yet several politicians have called for either congressional or independent investigations, claiming that the Executive Branch cannot satisfactorily investigate itself.^[28][29][30]

[edit] Intellectual capacity

From time to time, Bush's intellectual capacities have been questioned,^[31] and other politicians, including a spokesperson of Tony Blair,^[32]making it even the subject of the widespread U.S. Presidents IQ hoax.^[33] However, a 2006 historiometric study published in the scientific journal Political Psychology, comparing the IQs of all US presidents since 1900, rated him second to last, with an estimated IQ between 111.1 and 138.5, and mean of 120 (which still is well above average).^[34] In an interview, it was noted by the study's director that "Bush may be 'much smarter' than the findings imply" but that he "scores particularly unimpressively for 'openness to experience, a cognitive proclivity that encompasses unusual receptiveness to fantasy, aesthetics, actions, ideas and values.'" Still, the author concluded that Bush "is definitely intelligent ... certainly smart enough to be president of the United States".^[35] Other estimates of his IQ have been based on his SAT score of 1206 (566 for verbal and 640 for math),^[36] which would correspond to an IQ of around 125-129.^[37][38] No official IQ data for George Bush are available, however.^[39]

Part of the criticism of Bush's intelligence is in response to the various linguistic errors he has made during his public speeches.^[40] The term "Bushism" has become a popular catch phrase to describe these occurrences.

Bush's habit of the mispronunciation and misuse of words has received much ridicule in the media and in popular culture. Even as early as the 2000 presidential debates, this was the subject of a Saturday Night Live sketch (see "Strategery").^[41] Perhaps his most famous mispronunciation is that of "nucular" instead of "nuclear" when referring to nuclear weapons — however, he is by no means the only American president to do this. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton have all used some mispronunciation of the word due to the Southern pronunciation of certain words.^[42]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

v • d • e George W. Bush
Life and politics	Early life · Professional life · Military service · First term as U.S. President (2001-2005) · Second term as U.S. President (2005-) · Administration
Terms and policies	Foreign policy · Domestic policy · Bush Doctrine · Economic policy  · Compassionate conservatism
Perceptions	Public perception · Bushisms · Criticism · Movement to impeach · Fictionalized portrayals · As the subject of books and films

[edit] External links

• "The Worst President in History?", 2006, Rolling Stone article by Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz
• "He's the Worst Ever", Dec. 3, 2006, The Washington Post column by Columbia University historian Eric Foner
• "Faux Pas"
• "BushFlash", a Bush-satirical animated site by Eric Blumrich