Criticism of George W. Bush

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Bush as TIME Person of the Year for the 2nd time in 2004.

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 popularity at the time of the Watergate scandal. His opponents have criticized the controversial 2000 election, his way of fighting the War on Terrorism, the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, among many others.

The magazine TIME named Bush as its Person of the Year for 2000 and for 2004. This award is traditionally given to the person considered by the editors to be the most important news maker of the year.

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 called "Dubya", a stereotypical Texan pronunciation of the letter "W" which is Bush's middle initial, by both supporters and opponents.

[edit] Domestic

Bush approval rating from February 2001 to August 2006. Notable spikes in his approval rating followed the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the beginning of the 2003 Iraq conflict.

Bush began his presidency with approval ratings near 50%.^[1] Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bush held approval ratings of greater than 85%, among the highest for any President. Since then, his approval ratings and approval of his handling of domestic, economic, and foreign policy issues have steadily declined. ^[2].

In 2002, Bush had the highest approval rating of any president during a midterm congressional election since Dwight Eisenhower. In an unusual deviation from the historical trend of midterm elections, the Republican Party regained control of the Senate and added to its majority in the House of Representatives. Typically, the President's party loses congressional seats in the midterm elections; 2002 marked only the third midterm election since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress (others were 1902 and 1934).

In 2003, Bush's approval spiked upward at the time of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February. The upward trend continued through the invasion of Iraq in March. By late 2003, when presidential opponents began their campaigns in earnest, his approval numbers were in the low to middle 50s. Most polls tied the decline to growing concern over the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and a slow recovery from the 2001 recession. Polls of May 2004 showed anywhere from a 53% ^[3] to a 46 % approval rating. ^[4]

Polls conducted in early 2006 showed an average of around 40% for Bush, relatively low for a president coming off of his State of the Union Address, which generally provides a boost.

In April 2006, the president's approval in the polls continued the trend. Four states continue to maintain a positive approval rating: Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Nebraska. His disapproval rating in traditionally red states had risen, with higher than 60% of voters disapproving in Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, Missouri and Iowa. Even in his conservative-spun homestate of Texas, disapproval reached 51 percent. His disapproval rating in several American states had reached an all time high, with more than 70% disapproving in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware, Vermont and New York. His highest approval rating stood at 55% in Utah, and his lowest, 24%, in Rhode Island.^[5]

In July 10, 2006, an average of major polls indicated that Bush's approval rating stood at 39.4%.^[6]

In polls conducted between August 7 and August 16, 2006, Bush's average approval rating was 37.0%, and his average disapproval rating was 57.3%.^[7]

[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 and the Department of Homeland Security alleging weak crisis management and coordination. Rapper Kanye West said in a relief fund raise 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.

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. ^{[8][9][10][11]}

[edit] December 2005 Rasmussen poll on Iraq

A poll by Rasmussen Reports on 10 December 2005 asked, "Should President Bush be impeached and removed from office?" 32% said "yes," and 58% said "no."^[12] Earlier polls asked conditional versions of the impeachment question. For example, Zogby International on November 2, 2005 asked whether respondents agreed with the statement, "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment." Americans agreed with this, 53% to 42%. ^[13]

[edit] October 2006 Newsweek poll on impeachment

A poll by Newsweek on 19 October 2006 revealed that 51% of respondents believed that the impeachment of George W. Bush should be a priority. ^[14] This poll drew the ironic jab of political commentators, with comparisons to Bush referring to his 2004 election margin of 51% as a mandate.^[15]

[edit] Intellectual capacity

From time to time, Bush's intellectual capacities have been questioned by both Republican and Democratic media^[16] and other politicians, including a spokesperson of Tony Blair,^[17] making it even the subject of the widespread U.S. Presidents IQ hoax.^[18] However, a 2006 historiometric study published in the scientific journal Political Psychology, comparing the IQs of all US presidents since 1900, rated him second last, with an estimated IQ between 111.1 and 138.5, and mean of 120 (which still is well above average).^[19] 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".^[20] Other estimates of his IQ have been based on his SAT score of 1206 (566 for verbal and 640 for math),^[21] which would equal an IQ of around 125-129.^[22][23] No official IQ data for George Bush are available, however.^[24]

Much of the criticism of Bush's intelligence is in response to the various linguistic errors he has made during his public speeches.^[25] The term "Bushism" has become a popular catch phrase to describe these occurrences.

Bush's habit of mispronunciation 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").^[26] 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, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton have all used this pronunciation.^[27]

[edit] Global Criticism of Bush

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and President Bush, 2001

Coverage of Bush's re-election in 2004 by the British Daily Mirror. The Mirror has carried a number of front pages hostile to G.W. Bush, as have other European newspapers and magazines.

President Bush and French President Jacques Chirac during the 27th G8 summit, July 21, 2001.

Opinions of Bush from outside the U.S. are generally less favorable. For example, a global sampling of 21 nations found that 58% of those sampled believed that George Bush's re-election would have a negative impact on their peace and security. Only 26% believed it would have a positive one.^[28]

[edit] In specific countries

The U.K. Daily Mirror newspaper ran the following headline the day of Bush's reelection: “How Can 59,054,087 People Be So Dumb?”, underlining Bush's unpopularity in the British press. Among the population of Britain, two-thirds of the population holds a dim view of Bush, a figure that is duplicated in Canada. Bush fares slightly better in Mexico and Italy, where just over half of the population has a negative view, but much worse in other countries. “Three-quarters of those in Spain and more than 80% in France and Germany had a negative view of Mr. Bush's role in world affairs."^[29] In Turkey, 72% of those polled said that George Bush's re-election made them “feel worse about Americans".^[28] In November 2006, a survey taken in Britain, Mexico, and Canada showed that they believe Bush is more dangerous than the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ^[30]

[edit] Islamic world

In Islamic countries, opinion of Bush is even less favorable. In these countries, Bush's unfavorable ratings are particularly high, often over 90%.^[31] In Jordan, for example, Bush’s favorable rating is only nine percent.^[32] However Bush’s low ratings in the Islamic world occur against a broader backdrop of poor relations between Westerners and Muslims.^[33]

[edit] Favorable opinion

Bush enjoys somewhat more favorable views among the populations of some allied states, though they are usually a minority of the countries polled. In one multi-nation poll after Bush’s 2004 re-election, India and the Philippines were the only countries (out of 21 that were polled) where a majority (about 60%) saw his return to office as positive for peace and security in the world.^[28] In one poll of ten countries, Israel was the only country where the population had a net favorable opinion, with 62 percent favoring Bush.^[32] Supportive American foreign policy towards Israel is probably part of the reason for Bush’s high polling there.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Bush Approval: Raw Poll Data - regularly updated compilation of data from many different polls
• "The Worst President in History?", 2006 Rolling Stone article by Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz
• "Faux Pas"
• Pollingreport.com: a nonpartisan compilation of published scientific polls