When the economy stalls, many people look for someone high up to blame. Some believe President Bush is more accountable for America’s lackluster growth, even though he’s been out of office for 4 years now. Others believe President Obama is spending America into a hole that we won’t be able to dig our way out of. This debate isn’t new, but the suggesting that 43% of Americans blame Bush for our economic woes, while 14% put Obama at fault.
As America struggles to climb out of recession, who do you think bears the most responsibility for our economic troubles: President Bush or President Obama?
Oh god, what have you done?
Clinton
Clinton.
national debt was so high under bush because of the war. now that the war is essentially over, military spending is lower
Wait, you actually believe that Obama has only raised the debt by 983 billion? You have no one else to blame for your failure in the finance industry.
Right, because the presidents are responsible for our current economic crisis and Obama controls gas prices.
Saudi Arabia and OPEC control Gas prices-Really!
My list of Top 5 worst Presidents in US history:
Obama isn't even in the same zip code as these assclowns. He's a simple lefty gadfly compared to the carnage these guys wrought, both human and economic.
wow excellent list eddie im impressed...I might have Johnson higher up as i consider him worse then Bush Jr. The war he bungled us into cost 50,000 americans vs whatever number we are up to in bush's wars. I also wouldnt have Nixon on the list...he was a corrupt anti-semite but other then that wasnt nearly ass offensive as others such as Bush 1, obama, and clinton. Bottom line is that once reagan discovered that the american people didnt care about deficits every president since has been a disaster.
Have to give Teddy the nod over Johnson and Grant ahead of but close to Nixon.
In comparison to the historical rankings of best Presidents:
1 Abraham Lincoln
2 FDR
37 George W. Bush
4 Woodrow Wilson
15 LBJ
32 Nixon
It all depends on how you view the role of the president...if you believe in a very active executive branch (both in terms of domestic and foreign policy) then the above "historical" (whatever that means) rankings may be right. I see it just the opposite and I think the "best" presidents were the ones that were less active and have less grand "accomlishments" (usually accomplishment = war or increase in size of govt). For eg Lincoln was president when we had a war that killed more americans then all other wars combined and rescinded rights of citizens during that war in ways that were clearly illegal...for this he is the "best" president.
Just curious what the issue is with Abraham Lincoln? The Civil War? If so could that have been avoided?
curious to know this as well.
also, those who said Clinton, what the fuck did he do wrong? The days before he left office, the US was booming, unemployment was in a nosedive, the world envied America, the US was on track to pay back all its debt in less than 10 years. and he was socially moderate... i could go on
Is Carter #6 on that list? The CRA and his mismanagement of the economy should at least get him into the top 10. His only redeeming work was deregulating a few industries.
To address the topic at hand, I can't blame Bush too much for the crisis. He gave Greenspan a long leash, and otherwise didn't do all that much beyond cutting taxes. He relied on outside council, as I would hope a president might. Unfortunately, that council turned out to be wrong.
I blame Obama less for the state of the economy and more for his failure to fix it. He spent the first half of his term pushing HC reform while the economy was collapsing.
His stimulus programs have been colossally ineffective. The stimulus funds were allocated to his pet causes, as opposed to economically necessary projects. We have bureaucrats debating wind farms while our infrastructure falls apart. The disbursement of those funds was too slow to "jump start" the economy.
But ultimately the fault rests with the legislature. They passed countless housing subsidies, capitulated to special interests, and failed to control spending. The president is fundamentally limited with regards to fiscal policy.
Are you hardcore bipartisan or something? The Bush tax cuts were a huge deal and secondly don't forget about the little War on "Terror" in the Middle East that has cost us trillions.
Obama hasn't accomplished anything significant beyond healthcare and even those costs won't take into effect until several years.
We're probably both Republicans but please be more objective. Bush is a disgrace to the Republican Party. He initiated a bailout of all of those loser banks as well. He's a social conservative but a fiscal quasi-communist.
They both suck. Congress is the larger problem. The collection of morons whom developed and implemented a quasi-federally supported housing program bare responsibility for much of our current dilemma not the statistics of a presidents term that took years to materialize.
and as to this thread... can of worms (OPENED). Let the rants begin.
A Presidency of Excuses
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527023039015045774601932636175…
Bush spent more than Clinton and all of the past presidents combined. Plus he gave tax cuts (which I support) aggravating the budget deficit. He also supported TARP and that little pointless war in the middle east.
Obama is on pace to spend more than Bush. Fortunately the divided Congress is not letting Obama get a lot of things done (besides healthcare). For that reason I'd say that Bush was worse.
On a side note, let's finally elect a real fiscal conservative for once. Most of these Republicans are closet socialists who care about irrelevant social issues. Time to elect Ron Paul?
I blame the people. We kept getting mortgages we knew we couldn't pay. Then we would take a 2nd mortgage, on the first mortgage we can barely pay, to get Jimmy a car for his 16th birthday, because you know he just NEEDS it so bad. Then, we would go to our job and approve of loans to other people like us and continue this atrocious cycle. Beyond that, we would see the politicians butchering our government and economy and would keep voting for them because the other guy was from the other party or because we didn't trust the younger guy. In the end WE are to blame, as well as other. It is our fault also and it is time we stop trying to unload all the blame on others, just because we don't like messing up.
I cannot tell you how much I kept hoping for a depression. Maybe then will people finally get a sense of self responsibility. You can start to see this in people and hopefully it'll stick and people will teach this to their kids.
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