Political Cortex: How Bush Could Have Been the Greatest President Ever

How Bush Could Have Been the Greatest President Ever

By Tom Ball
09/15/2006 03:24:26 PM EST

The other day I was sitting with a friend who was recanting his experience at an event featuring Patrick Kennedy, "One of the speakers stepped up to the podium and confessed that he was not a 'political' person -- that is, until one morning he woke up and (poof) -- Epiphany. It was a simple thought -- a question, and a reflection. I wondered, 'What would the world be like if, over the last six years, President Bush woke up each morning and did EXACTLY the opposite of virtually everything that he has actually done during that time?

My conclusion? He would have been the GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER!"

Phew! When he told me that, I couldn't believe how true it was. Almost frightening in its simplicity.

Think about it... over the jump!

Instead of invading Iraq, we would NOT have invaded Iraq! With only that, Bush would have had an infinitely more respectable and productive presidency. The U.S. would still have some respect in the world. We would not have pissed away the expected trillion dollars in taxpayers money. And tens of thousands of families would have their loved ones alive and well while hundreds of thousands more would be relatively removed from harm's way.

Neocons would NOT be in charge!

Instead of killing the #2 Al Qaeda man twelve times, we might have taken out the #1 man in Tora Bora.

Instead of more poverty, perhaps we would have less poverty.

Instead of Unilateral Preemption, we would be engaging with our allies and our enemies -- working peacefully to make the world a safer place for all.

Instead of an increasing dependence on fossil fuels, and particularly MidEast oil, we would be making great strides toward implementation of more efficient technologies and cleaner, renewable sources of energy.

Instead of implementing a continuous, disingenuous war on Science, global warming would be addressed as the legitimate and critical issue that it is. We would have negotiated acceptable measures for the Kyoto Treaty (or something better) and had the timelines for implementation set. We would have lower arsenic levels in our drinking water and CO2 in our atmosphere. And Stem Cell research would be pressing powerfully forward with federal funding.

Instead of renewed record deficits, we would likely have a near-balanced budget or at least a deficit based on truly economically simulative, and societally beneficial government investments.

National Healthcare?

Instead of the failure of FEMA, hundreds of lives might have been saved in the aftermath of Katrina and confidence in our disaster response would be flying high..

Instead the number of Americans without health insurance rising by more than 6.6 Million, perhaps the number would have decreased by 6.6 Million.

Publicly Funded Elections?

Instead of the rising religious fanaticism in America, perhaps the Falwells, Robertsons, and Dobsons of the nation would've been relegated to their deserving place on the shelf -- right next to the Taliban.

Instead of the pharmaceutical industry reaping a $139 billion windfall profit from Bush corporate welfare, perhaps they would have been held accountable for price fixing, and using toxic substances in our children's' vaccines (formaldehyde (used in embalming), thimerosal (nearly 50 percent mercury), aluminum phosphate (toxic and carcinogenic), antibiotics, phenols (corrosive to skin and toxic), aluminum salts (corrosive to tissue and neurotoxic), methanol (toxic), isopropyl (toxic), 2-pheoxyethanol (toxic), live viruses and a host of unknown components considered off-limits as trade secrets. These are just part of the vaccine mixture.)

Instead of secrecy and lies, there would have been TRUTH.

Instead of American jobs being exported to nations where labor comes cheap -- very cheap, perhaps we as a nation would have been able to import jobs. Perhaps real wages would actually have increased over the last two years and perhaps 3 million jobs would not have been lost in his first three months in office with a pathetic job creation since.
"President Bush is the first President in more than 50 years whose economic policies have cost America jobs."

Instead of Tax Cuts for the rich, perhaps we could have had crazy stuff like... oh, I don't know... investments in education, healthcare, balanced budgets, infrastructure renewal, environmental protection, etc.

Instead of quashing dissent, we would be sharing ideas and holding one-another accountable.

Instead of approaching fascism and theocracy, we would be embracing the U.S Constitution -- and enjoying genuine liberty, freedom, and justice.

Instead of Diebold, we would have paper trails, appropriate recounts and clean elections.

And what would have happened if Bush actually responded to that notorious PDB? Something. Anything? Or if the administration hadn't ended their focus on terrorism in favor of prostitution and gambling.

What if...

Clearly, I've overlooked incalculable Bush atrocities that would've been undone or course-reversed to create admirable policy initiatives. And clearly I've included some things that would not necessarily have blossomed from Bush's 'opposite' actions -- instead, they were possibilities that reflect the opposite of the spirit of Bush's real actions and suspected motivations.

What if...

In the end, it doesn't matter, because it all DID happen and Bush is actually the WORST president in the history of our nation.

Welcome back to reality:(

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How Bush Could Have Been the Greatest President Ever | 3 comments (3 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Any other (none / 0)

delightful benefits that dream scenario would have brought us?

Political Cortex -- Brain Food for the Body Politic

by Tom Ball on 09/15/2006 03:27:52 PM EST

Just two things (none / 1)

Imagine if Bush had done these two things:

Stuck with Afghanistan, instead of going into Iraq.
Instituted a $1 a gallon gas tax to support a crash program in alternate fuels.

I suspect he would have still been able to slide in his tax cuts (perhaps even more), get his radical judges through, and be looking at an approval rating still well over 50%.

by Devilstower on 09/15/2006 05:46:10 PM EST

Wharton: Bush IS the Best President Ever (none / 1)

Faux actually did a piece "Best President Ever?" Guess what they found? Bush IS the best president
ever.

Bet there's at least 8 other polling bureaus that can prove the same damn thing -- if the following is any indication. It's from an analysis of presidential polling done at the prestigious Wharton School of Economics at Penn:

Based on the assumption that a presidential election is fundamentally a referendum on the performance of the incumbent president, the time-for-change model uses three
variables to predict the outcomes of presidential elections more than three months before
Election Day: 1) the incumbent president's approval rating in the final Gallup Poll in June,
2) the change in real GDP during the first two quarters of the election year, 3) and a "dummy" variable based on whether the president's party has controlled the White House for only one term or for more than one term. Since 1900, only one first-term incumbent(sic), Jimmy Carter, has been defeated"

[Note: Herbert Hoover was also defeated after serving just one term by FDR -- even with the GOP (Game Our Polling) in the White House for 8 years prior. Wharton got confused doing a poll for presidents since 1945 when it accidentally took a sudden detour back to 1900. The school no doubt 'regrets the error' -- as they say in the newz biz.]

"Since 1945" avoids the issue of Franklin Roosevelt because even a conservative business school wants to avoid that dynamite. FDR -- for the record -- did the more for the nation's GDP than any president before or since. It did, however, take him 12 years and WW II to do it. Even so, you can also take selected averages of his four runs for "Decider" and prove he was just a mere above average president. His GDP ratio in the 30s was substantially lower than in the 40s. Therefore, his sizable winning margins are a statistical anomaly. GDP went up as his polularity went down.

Especially now that the Verizon/AT&T/Lucent has purchased the rights to the Bell Curve. That's right...you and I can't use it, anymore.

Besides, it took FDR until 1940 before he met the "party in for last two terms" qualifier. So it turns out that Wharton really didn't need to exclude FDR at all -- although he qualifies in 1944 when his GDP was spectacular. Which means he's outta there. Disqualified! It was the one year the St. Louis Browns won the A.L. pennant. Talk about a year of statistical anomalies!

Since 1900, only successors of Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and FDR beat the two-term "curse". Taft and the Senior Bush were defeated for re-election after one term. [Truman won.] That means GHWB scores for both winning and losing -- but that's just statistically too wierd to poll. FDR being the only prez ever elected to a third term means he's also out -- Alex Trabec's Jeopardy rules apply here. In the end, FDR also can't be compared to any of the other two-term presidents who simply retired after two terms. For obvious reasons -- like the New Deal.

At this point, Wharton might just as well say "how do I love thee...let me count the ways"
when conducting presidential polls. And Wharton is right: Bush the apple can't even be compared to "Ike" the orange.

As mentioned, Senior Bush's party was in power for 8 years when he ran for election. Again, we'll skim over that...which means more air time to praise Ronald Reagan -- and, yes, Ike -- men more popular when they left office than when voted in. [As was Bill Clinton.] Of the three, only Calvin Coolidge and St. Ronald Reagan turned the Oval Office over to fellow partisans. FDR actually died; yet another reason to disqualify him. Dying is considered "cheating" in political polls. [Just ask John Ashcroft.] A president's corpse is now constitutionally limited to two terms -- and -- turning over in its grave.

So...when based on 1) identical criteria and 2) unidentical basic Christian philosophy, as well as 3)presbyopia -- George Bush wins! But not just yet.

Dumbya is simply the Best President Ever because he's the actual living embodiment of Ronald Reagan. [When statistically weighted for fundalmentalism by "You-Know-Who."] That makes it something that's never happened before in US politics. Not even Reagan could do that! Besides, Faux News would have been on the scene to cover it if it ever had -- from their lavish multi-hundred dollar "Murdochesque" newsrooms in Washington and New York.

And you can shag Wharton, anyway. Playing by their rules gives me a migraine. Penn's probably a really BORING Ivy League School, anyway. No way is it tough on applicants as -- let's say -- Old Eli in its admission policies. And I'll bet Milton Friedman's son didn't even have to take a test to get into Wharton.

by FlyCatcher on 09/17/2006 02:05:03 PM EST

How Bush Could Have Been the Greatest President Ever | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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