8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency (Recap)

The numbers tell the story -- George W. Bush was a failure as a President by almost any measure. I've only brought you eight, but each makes the damning case against him. Of course, his legacy is still being written. The ongoing economic crisis which can be attributed directly to his reliance on conservative economic principals has not played out, and until the full impact is known, his legacy is not final. The War in Iraq is drawing to a close, but we are not there yet, so his legacy is not final. Most insidiously, a campaign of misinformation led by conservative pundits attempts to redefine the Bush legacy with the same types of lies that Bush used to get us into Iraq. They can't be allowed to shift the blame away from Bush and from conservatism. 

We are living the results of the implementation of conservatism every single day. To President Bush, I say thanks for nothing.

1. Unemployment
2. The S&P 500
3. US Military Deaths in Iraq
4. US Military Wounded in Iraq
5. Iraqi Civilian Deaths during Iraq War
6. Cost of Iraq War
7. Exxon
8. Our Vacationing President

Our Vacationing President

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #8

President Bush didn't like the White House and he didn't like Washington DC. He'd much rather take a little time off. He didn't particularly care for hard work so off he'd go. Oh, I know its unfair to suggest that a President is ever truly on vacation, even though Bush seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time pretending to clear brush on his stage set. Oops ... I mean on his ranch. Still, the "Vacation President" is an apt description of his governing style which led to a disastrous economy and two never ending wars. Never let it be forgotten that President Bush spent over 25% of his Presidency on vacation. (Source)

Yes, I recognize that the graph merely shows a division of where he spent his vacation time, but I've grown bored of bar and line graphs and decided to use a pie graph because it's "purdy".

Exxon

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #7

Let's not forget that some companies made out like bandits during the Bush years. There was no war, no natural disaster that these companies weren't willing to exploit on their way to record profits. All hail Exxon. (Source)

Cost of Iraq War

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #6

The two great crises of the Bush Administration intersect when you discuss the costs of the War in Iraq. Truth be told, the numbers you see here are rather conservative. Think of the cost for health care for our soldiers who have been wounded both physically and mentally. Think of the cost of replenishing the military with all the equipment that has been destroyed. Think of the fact that we are still spending money on this war. The cost of this war, this mistake, has left our economy vulnerable and has limited the political will that many in Washington need to get us out of this crisis. (We have to spend our way out of it.) (Source)

Iraqi Civilian Deaths During Iraq War

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #5

Do their lives not have meaning? Do their deaths matter? You wouldn't know it listening to the American traditional press or listening to conservative pundits. Yes, we are not directly responsible for the majority of these deaths in that they were not caused by our direct hand. They were, however, the result of a country that descended into chaos by our actions ... by our lies. How do the engineers of this war live with themselves? (Source)

US Military Wounded in Iraq

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #4

Our dead soldiers only tell part of the story. Truth be told, we have fewer dead soldiers than we would have during past wars because of advances in medicine. So, we have a large number of soldiers who have been wounded ... many of them seriously. When you think of those who have given their lives in Iraq, don't forget those who came close to losing theirs.

Have Bush and Cheney done anything to honor the sacrifices of these brave men and women? Is it possible to honor them when you've asked them to kill and be killed for a lie? (Source)

US Military Deaths in Iraq

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #3

Sure, the current economic disaster is the Bush legacy that is in the forefront of most of our minds. Still, it would be wrong to forget the Iraqi disaster. How's this for a Bush legacy? Over 4,000 American soldiers killed on his watch in an unjust war. (Source)

The S&P 500

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #2

Of course, unemployment isn't the type of measurement that a good conservative cares about. No, a good conservative has one, and only one measurement for the economy. That would be the stock market. How did the stock market do during the Presidency? Well, much like unemployment, it crashed in the early days, but would start an impressive rebound in 2003. Of course, all that wealth created surprisingly few jobs. 

Oh yeah ... one more thing.

By the end of the Bush presidency, all of that wealth would be destroyed as the markets plummeted, bringing to mind the year 1929. Thanks George!

Unemployment

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency #1

Not long after Bush took office, the tech bubble burst and unemployment climbed over 6%. Bush's solution? Lower taxes! Always lower taxes. This led to what was known as a jobless recovery. Lots of our economic indicators got better, but Bush never got the unemployment rate as low as it was when he took office. Of course, following the bust of the real-estate bubble near the end of his presidency, the unemployment rate would skyrocket over 7.5%.

An Introduction

8 Graphs Illustrating the Bush Presidency

I had so much fun making my last batch of graphs that I'm really looking forward to the next one! It's fun with Excel time! This time, we're going to take a look at various economic and policy statistics and see how they moved over the eight years of the Bush presidency. We'll kick things off Monday morning with a look at unemployment.

President Obama says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for Week Ending 4/10/2009 #2

(W)e’ve got a global economy. And if we’re taking actions in isolation in the United States but those actions are contradicted overseas, then we’re only going to be halfway effective, maybe not even half.

You’ve seen, for example, a drastic decline in U.S. exports over the last several months. You look at a company like Caterpillar, in my home state of Illinois, which up until last year was doing extraordinarily well. In fact, export growth was what had sustained it even after the recession had begun.

As a consequence of the world recession, as a consequence of the contagion from the financial markets debilitating economies elsewhere, Caterpillar is now in very bad shape.

So if we want to get Caterpillar back on its feet, if we want to get all those export companies back on their feet so that they are hiring, putting people back to work, putting money in people’s pockets, we’ve got to make sure that the global economy as a whole is successful.

You simply have to be impressed by President Obama. He has a remarkable capability for conveying the seriousness of the crisis without falling back on hoary scare tactics. This is the mark of a real leader and it is the reason that, despite the numerous dishonest and venomous attacks from the right wing, Obama has maintained most of his popularity.

It's easy to mistake well-crafted showmanship for leadership. Yes, a President standing atop burning rubble while shouting platitudes through a megaphone has the appearance of leadership. A President landing on an aircraft carrier in a fighter while wearing a flight suit to proclaim victory in a war has the appearance of leadership. Scratch just a little beneath the surface and you can see the truth behind these moments. They were little more than stagecraft - empty of substance ... devoid of meaning. When President Bush climbed atop that pile of rubble in New York City the plans for war against Iraq had already begun, despite the lack of any evidence that they were involved in the attacks. The war itself had barely begun when he landed on that aircraft carrier. He had his chances to show real leadership and, like a Little Leaguer facing a big league fastballer, he whiffed every time.

The time for leadership was during the attacks when he sat like a deer frozen in the headlights in front of a group of school children before zig-zagging across the country on Air Force One, only appearing from an undisclosed bunker. He had his chance in the aftermath of the attacks when he set the country on the path to war with Iraq rather than focusing on getting, you know, the people who actually attacked us. He had his chance when he took us into the war in Iraq without a plan for ending the conflict and rebuilding the country. He blew so many chances.

President Obama has shown how a leader behaves in a crisis. He is always in front of the camera. He's holding press conferences where he takes real questions from real reporters. He is never less than confident that we will get past this and thrive again, but he doesn't sugar coat the situation. He tells us that this won't be easy. He tells us that this will take time. He tells us that this will require bold action and then he backs up those words with his budget proposal. This is leadership and this is what this country needs.

Source - Crooks and Liars

D.L. Hughley says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for 2/10/2009 #1

Now I listened to those tapes and I'm not going to hide my affinity for this guy. I never met him before then but to me we have become such a trivial place that we will impeach a man for having sex, or lying about having sex with a woman. In California we will impeach a guy because he raises taxes on license plates because energy gets out of control. We'll impeach a guy for saying some things on tape. But a man can take us to war and lie and we won't do a damn thing about that. That makes me so mad.

- D.L. Hughley

Bush Guilt

8 Commentaries for 2/4/2009 #5

Digby has posted a fascinating series of photographs of George W. Bush taken after his farewell speech (which cut off the first half of My Name is Earl on the east coast). The pictures were taken after he had exited the room following the interview, as he was returning to the room to thank his supporters in attendance. It appears that President Bush had been crying.

Certainly, for any President of any stripe, the emotion of saying goodbye to the country must be overwhelming. Chance are, he's just relieved to have it end, but there's a part of me that wants to believe that they are tears of guilt. 

I want to believe that Bush was shedding tears because of the state of the country as he exits office. I want to believe that Bush realized, at that moment, how many opportunities he squandered. I want to believe that Bush was overcome by the realization that there are thousands upon thousands of people dead, including over 4000 of our soldiers, who would still be alive if he had never taken office.

I don't believe it though. It simply isn't true.

Ronald Reagan

8 Commentaries for 2/4/2009 #1

I was born during the Presidency of Richard Nixon and I became politically aware during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Nixon was bad, but Reagan was worse. I didn't get it at first though. I had no idea. I thought Ronald Reagan was God and in my first election, I cast my ballot for George H. W. Bush. Not long after that election, I was introduced to Rush Limbaugh. It was then that I came to understand just what conservatism was all about and I came to understand that I was not a conservative. I haven't turned back since.

To this day, so many people hold Ronald Reagan in high regard. They believe that he belongs on Mount Rushmore. They believe that he and he alone brought about the end of the great Soviet empire. They believe that he stands above Lincoln and Washington as our greatest President.

What should you know about Ronald Reagan? He implemented an economic program that emboldened the rich and punished the poor. He used racism as a tool to turn Americans against one another. He made fun of those who were dying from AIDS. He oversaw an administration that ran amok in Latin America, not to mention afoul of the law.

Worst of all, he did all of it with a wink, a nod and a smile. His affable good nature was little more than a disguise to hide a monster who was hell bent on destroying all that was good about America. It was the success of Ronald Reagan that led directly to the Presidency of George W. Bush. These are dark times, but here something I know to be true. The idea of America will persevere. It is too great to be brought down by such little men as Reagan and Bush.

Forgive and Forget?

8 Random Items for 1/22/2009 #7

Perish the thought. Here's Hunter at Daily Kos ...

I won't soon forget Bush and his band of incompetent, bullying, self-absorbed, ideologically obsessed buffoons -- an administration so bereft of value that even the Economist wrote its obituary using examples, comparisons and words (incompetent included) that had appeared on this site for most of Bush's time in office. But I also won't forget those who, in service to their own coddled hierarchies or fear of sounding 'petty' or 'dogmatic', weren't willing to lift their voices too loudly or too energetically against one damn bit of it. They are as much to blame as anyone in the Bush administration, and while it would be As Convenient As All (F***ing) Hell for the world to forget that it was their own deregulation odes that led to catastrophe, that their own military-playtime assertions were proved concretely to be nothing short of moronic, and their own papers hemmed and hawed over whether or not blind inhumanity towards our fellow man -- in the form of torture -- was really condemnable, or merely gauche, or whether or not government figures spreading now-proven-absolutely-no-question-about-it-false assertions to goad a democracy into war count as something that should be held against someone, or merely the stuff of past history, nobody's fault really -- while it would be astonishingly convenient for all of us mere peons to forget all of that, and cast recriminations against no one, and go on with our lives like good little shoes and thimbles in someone else's damned board game -- I think I will probably not forget. I am fairly certain, in fact.

In Context

8 Thoughts About the Election of Barack Obama #1

To understand how important the changing of the guard in Washington is, you have to understand the last eight years. In eight minutes, Countdown did as good a job as could have possibly been done. Like most Americans, I take no pleasure in detailing these failures, but they are what they are. If we do not understand them, we have no chance of setting things right.

No No No

8 Random Items for 1/16/2009 #2

Sir, defend away, then, when you're done, just go away. I'd be happy to never hear your name again.

The Dick Cheney and Republican Crimes

8 Random Items for 1/15/2009 #1

There isn't a single individual in American politics that I despise as much as The Dick Cheney. It doesn't appear that there is a single decent thing about him. He is the lowest level of human being I've seen. Think of the ground that covers ... I live in the redneck south. 

The Dick decided to give an exit interview to Jim Lehrer of PBS and if any other person had said the things he said, I would assume they were delusional and should be given professional help, or perhaps they should even be locked away. With The Dick however, you know he's saying these things just to mess with us. That's what evil people do.

You see, The Dick is basically looking us in the eye and saying come and get me. He knows that even though the laws of the land are supposed to apply to him, they don't. For all the talk the right loves to hurl at the left about elitism, they are the ones who love to put themselves above the law. They are the ones who seek special treatment, even after they have broken the law.

It all began with another Dick (Tricky Dick to be exact), Richard Nixon. When Gerald Ford decided to pardon Nixon, it sent the message that any attempt to hold Republican politicians accountable for their criminal actions would not fly. When elected Republicans do bad things, well, so what? Move on. That's the past and only the future matters.

So Nixon committed crimes and he was pardoned. Reagan committed crimes but he couldn't remember so we just laughed them off. Bush I committed crimes as VP, but they were swept under the rug and he pardoned many of the Reagan offenders as well. Bush II and The Dick Cheney have run the most lawless administration we'll see in our lifetimes. There may be an electoral price to be paid, but the crimes themselves will be swept under the rug.

This is, of course, a double standard that only applies to Republican politicians. Republicans spent billions of dollars, yes billions, in an attempt to find anything that would bring the Clinton's down. Nothing worked, because they didn't find anything, because there was nothing to find. Well, they tricked Bill Clinton into lying about having an affair, but that was it. Of course, even if the impeachment didn't work, it had the effect of sidetracking a progressive administration.

Now that the Democrats are in power, I'd like to see a little accountability, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm going to go out on a limb when President-Elect Obama and many of the Democrats in Congress say they want to look forward rather than worry about what happened in the past. I find this dangerous. It treats serious criminal offenses as if they were nothing more than cheap political stunts. Additionally, the bad guys will be back in power someday and if we don't punish the criminals now, what's to stop them from pulling the same crap again? 

The press will, of course, play along. They will paint any attempt to prosecute members of the Bush administration as nothing more than "partisan politics run amok". They will talk about the need of the American people to "heal" and "move on". The old cliche is that that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Thanks to the press, an accurate history won't even be available.

Now, I agree that the country needs to move forward. However, I, and many like me, will not forget the crimes that have been committed in the name of protecting the American people over the last eight years. If the elected party won't do their part in bringing the criminals to justice, it will be our responsibility to raise an unholy stink about it. We cannot tolerate these crimes. We cannot forget these crimes. We cannot allow the good name of the United State of America to be run through the mud.

Thursday Night

8 Random Items for 1/14/2009 #3

The President will occupy the airwaves Thursday night in order to give a short farewell address to the nation. I haven't decided if I will watch it yet or not, but if he interrupts 30 Rock I will not be a happy man.

I'm tempted to watch. I want to see if I can get through a televised George W. Bush speech without screaming, red faced and neck veins bulging, at the television set. My wife and I will have a 12 year old in the house and my language while listening to Bush speeches tends to involve a certain long word that begins with mother and ends with an 'e' and a 'r'. I don't really find anything offensive about cursing but I wouldn't want the child to think she could use the same word when yelling at her teacher. It might cause her problems.

Anyway, I expect Bush to be a pathetic figure Thursday night. Even more than usual. He is practically pleading with the American people not to hate him. Good luck with that Mr. President.

It is hard to believe that it has been over 8 years since the Supreme Court decided that the will of the voters in Florida didn't matter and installed the Bush administration. We have seen two recessions, the most recent of which is the most serious financial crisis this nation has faced since the Great Depression. We witnessed the most horrific terrorist attack anyone could imagine, while our leaders were asleep at the switch. We left one just war unfinished and fought another unjust war. We saw our government decided that it is American to torture our enemies. We saw one of our greatest and most historic cities leveled by a hurricane and we saw our government screw up the response to an astonishing degree. Sadly, I could go on and on about the so called "accomplishments" of the Bush administration.

If we can take anything away from the last eight years, it is that our elections matter. I do not want to hear one more idiot on the far left assert that there is no difference between the two major parties. We will, as a nation, continue feeling the consequences of the 2000 and 2004 elections for a generation.

Remember. American democracy only works when "We the People" are engaged and educated. There is no excuse not to know what is going on. There is no excuse for anyone to simply accept the conventional wisdom as parroted by the traditional media. There is too much information available to anyone willing to search it out to ever use ignorance as an excuse. Read. Learn. Listen.

Somewhere, sometime, somehow ... we lost our way. Our national promise faded and our worst instincts prevailed. It is the not the first time this happened in our history and it will not be the last time. Now though, now we have a chance to move forward. We always do. Lincoln moved us past slavery. Teddy Roosevelt busted the trusts. Franklin Roosevelt eased the sufferings of millions during the Great Depression before leading the world against fascism. We face evil and even when that evil is something within ourselves, we ultimately triumph and become something more free and more liberal.

On Thursday night, we will begin closing the door on one of the darkest periods in our nation's history. Afterwards, if we do our part ... if we force those we have chosen to represent us to act accordingly ... we can once again move our nation forward. We can take this tragedy that was the Bush administration and build upon it. We can move our nation even closer to fulfilling the promise of those most liberal of words in our Declaration of Independence. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Together, we can make it happen. We can bring our nation closer to that goal our founders set for us. Thursday night does not represent the end ... it represents the beginning.

"National Disgrace"

8 Random Items for 1/13/2009 #7

So, Bush is out there defending the response of his administration to Katrina. This man has no sense of decency. No American should forget the images of New Orleans in the aftermath of the disaster. No American can deny that when the government doesn't get involved in a disaster, things will go to hell. The hurricane was a disaster and the response, despite being true to conservative principles, was even worse.

I state the following for you conservatives out there: is the responsibility of the federal government to provide aid because disasters on this scale cannot possibly be handled by local government. It is the only practical solution that alleviates real human suffering (a goal that most conservatives will readily admit they do not share).