You are not alone in missing Bush, at least in some respects. I may not have agreed with his attempts to reach out to Democrats, often to his own detriment, nor his punting to the Supreme Court on McCain-Feingold, nor his periodic retreat into big government solutions, but all of that pales compared to what he did for us in terms of foreign policy.
Many libertarians argue that it doesn't matter if we are safe from foreign aggressors if we have a bad government, I argue the opposite, it doesn't matter what government we have if it is ruling over a smoking crater. Foreign aggression is more of a threat. It is easier to overthrow a domestic tyrant that a foreign occupation force.
Many libertarians disagree, but then I think many of them are blinded by doctrine on foreign policy, believing unless Al Qaida has landing craft in the Chesapeake we have no right to defend ourselves.
Well, you can read my thoughts on Bush here:
http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2008/12/17/looking_back_at_ bush.thtmlThough the start hits all the low points, in the end I do agree that he will be remembered in a more positive than negative light.