A Farewell to President Bush
Most people have a good side. The Phantom of the Opera had a good musical ear, Saddam Hussein had choice taste in real estate and Bonnie Parker was an exemplary girlfriend to Clyde Barrows.
So it stands to reason that George W. Bush has his good side, too and hopefully, history will be kinder to him than many of his critics have. Speaking as that .0001%, which is a mere blip across the computer screen, Bush has done some pretty meritorious deeds as well.
He orchestrated bailouts of the auto and banking industries that saved our economy from near ruin while Congress snoozed on. He handled Korea well and did not make nicety-nice to the Palestinians, either. It doesn't matter that Americans are one of the most hated people on the planet. Perhaps people should hate us a little more. Then we wouldn;t have the kind of immigration problems that we do.
On a personal level, he never used the Oval Office for any trysts or romantic rendezvous and no one will ever see a picture of him canoodling with another woman because there aren't any, and he always maintained his composure or dignity during some pretty harsh and unkind treatment. He may not have been perfect, but he certainly wasn't the scourge of the universe, either.
I have some affinity with the final paragraph in your post, but that's about all. Other than saying and doing some goofy things every now and then, I agree that Bush didn't compromise the presidency - good for him, and for the country, that he went eight years sans any personal or political scandals.
The bailouts engineered by Paulson won't turn the economy around - where did you get the idea that they "saved our economy from near ruin?" To the contrary, we're increasing the tax burden and further plunging the country into debt. Unemployment is rising. Companies are bracing themselves for hard times and acting accordingly. I find it ironic, by the way, that the change Obama says we should believe in is more or less the continuation of what the Bush administration established just a few months ago. Conservatives and libertarians might now say that some real change would be good whereas liberals are mostly supporting the status quo here. On a side note, it's quite likely that McCain would have defeated Obama had he opposed these bailouts rather than suspend his campaign so that he could more or less act as Bush's foot soldier on the Hill (just as he was trying to convince voters he wasn't George W. Bush). Truly idiotic.
And finally, what did Bush accomplish vis-a-vis Korea? I recall that he convinced the North to suspend their nuclear program on the promise of American aid. So, here's the message to screwed up third world countries that can't feed their people - invest in armament programs instead because, in the long run, the US will provide the food; go ahead and threaten to destabilize your respective regions in the meantime.
You raise some really good points, John, but can you imagine the panic that would have ensued had Bush not come up with the bailout plan? Re. Korea: Thumbs up to the suspension part and thumbs down to the aid part. Hey, I couldn't remain a Republican if i thought otherwise.