menzies
Guru
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Clearly the best most decent man to occupy the White house in the last 30 years. With a peak 92% approval rating while in office, clearly almost all Americans approved of his tough choices. Sadly, when a cyclical economy turns down, the only thing a president can do is take the blame.
Thank you for your service through war and peace!
RIP President Bush
Ted
With neither house of Congress willing to do anything (both were Democrat) there was nothing he could. Economic downturns usually have to run their course. Now you can prolong them by doing the wrong things, the Carter term would be a good example.I have been an admirer of his for decades. I was disappointed he didn’t win the GOP nomination in 1980 and was very pleased to vote for him in 1988.
My own recollection was that President Bush understood the nature of an economic downturn and held a patient, conservative course during the first 2 years of his Presidency. When the recession came in 1990 it was the begging of the presidency election cycle. Initially President Bush encouraged the nation to stay the course and that the recession would pass. As the presidential race heated up, President Bush succumbed to popular pressure to come up with a recovery program. When he did that he then faced criticism that it was either too little or too interventionist. I believe his first instincts were right, that the economy was fine and would recover quickly. Eventually he either wasn’t willing or wasn’t able to tell the American people that downturns happen and we will get through it. If I recall, it was one of the shortest recessions in our history and if it wasn’t for bad timing, we would have benefited from 4 additional years of his leadership.