In spite of the positive impact of these Presidential decisions, there
were others which adversely have affected the country. The most
prominent of these is Bush's recklessness in fiscal policy. He did not
veto a single budget bill in his first term, though many were saddled
with pork and unnecessary spending. He did not begin to veto spending
bills until 2007. In fact, in his entire eight years Bush only used his
veto power twelve times. Compare this to his three predecessors:
Ronald W. Reagan vetoed 78 bills, George H. W. Bush vetoed 44, and
William J. (Bill) Clinton used his veto 37 times. As a result, both the
Federal deficit and the national debt have ballooned to unsustainable
levels.
Along the same lines, Bush enacted No Child Left Behind, legislation
intended to standardize and improve American education but which in fact
removed much of what remained of local control and oversight and instead
threw millions of taxpayer dollars at public schools which need serious
restructuring, not more money. While some States have improved student
test scores, the means of achieving such results often have been devious
and cunning.
Bush also signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and
Modernization Act into law in 2003. The program, which provides
prescription drugs for the elderly on Medicare, is another massive
entitlement program that we cannot afford. The cost of the first ten
years of the program has been estimated at $1.2 trillion and counting.
And since few government programs, once created, ever decrease in size,
one can expect the costs of Medicare prescription drugs to rise much
higher in the future, unfairly straining the finances of future American
generations.
Finally, in recent months Bush has overseen one of the largest federal
interventions into the marketplace in modern memory. His administration
has nationalized banks and other parts of the financial services and
housing industries and seriously has considered nationalizing parts of
the automobile industry. Because of the precedent this has set, others
now are trying to grab a piece of the Federal pie. Most prominent among
these are States which do not want to face the difficult political
decision of balancing their budgets, though some cities have moved in on
the act as well.
The one question hanging over President Bush's legacy is the result of
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It certainly is true that since going
into both countries the United States has not been attacked by radical
Islamic terrorists, and Bush deserves credit for this. However, both
wars are unresolved. Until they are it is impossible to determine
whether each country will be better off than it was beforehand or
whether we will have disrupted al Qaeda's network enough to prevent
another attack upon U.S. soil. President-elect Barack H. Obama must see
that we do not leave either country as we did Vietnam, abandoning our
allies and without anything positive to show for our involvement and
loss of life. We must win and establish capable governments in our
wake, though the sooner this is accomplished the better.
President Bush's legacy, then, is a mixed one. On the fundamental
issues of human life and freedom of religion he has been a great leader.
On economic and education issues the record is rather unflattering. And
on the major foreign policy issue of his presidency history has yet to
write the final chapter.