Historians Defeat Bush!
The New York Times Editorial Board blog passes along the news that historians like the president about as much as the rest of us. Okay, less.
The nonprofit History News Network is reporting that in an informal survey of 109 historians, 98.2 percent considered President George W. Bush’s presidency to be a failure, while 1.8 percent called it a success.
On the question of whether he is the worst president in history, there was greater difference of opinion: 61 percent said he was, while others disagreed or are withholding their opinions. (The survey also made clear that James Buchanan has some work to do rehabilitating his whole catapulted-the-nation-into-Civil-War reputation.)
We take most unscientific surveys with a large grain of salt, and this certainly falls into that category. On the other hand, we like the idea of historians starting to think about the George W. Bush presidency, and how it fits into larger patterns of American history.
We’d be interested in knowing more about the 1.8 percent of historians who regard this presidency as a success.
Snap!
missie says:
Yes, I do wonder about that 1.8 percent. Especially now with skyrocketing fuel and food prices as well as the continuing war….I was a child in the 1970s, but nothing that happened then (think gas lines, airline hijackings, Watergate, Three Mile Island, the Cold War, etc.) ever frightened me as much….
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The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton says:
Do you read the comments on this here blog, Prettyboy?
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marko65 says:
Worst president ever!…yet if Bush could run for a third term, Americans (led all the way by Texas) would vote him in again. Don’t believe me? See the 2004 election.
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dubious says:
More elitist dribble from the leftist NYT. And since when do historians judge a presidency until a) it is history, and b) there has been time for events to unfold subsequent to that presidency.
So quick to pull the trigger like the knee-jerk, Obama-loving crowd is fond of doing as they talk down to the rest of us. But I hope the Times editorial writers, through whom Evan likes to live vicariously, have given him a little more pleasure today (just not as much as that Houston lawyer.)
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Howard O. Weise says:
Let’s not forget Jimmy “I gave away the Panama Canal” Carter.
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