Is Bashar al Assad good or bad?

Answer 1

Good

He is a good president indeed. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been much loved by his people. This is a fact, and the proof is that he got a large class loyal to the regime. The U.S Embassy in Damascus acknowledge that fact, read below...

"The Asad regime (little has changed since Bashar Al-Asad succeeded his father) has held power longer than any other Syrian government since independence; its survival is due partly to a strong desire for stability and the regime's success in giving groups such as religious minorities and peasant farmers a stake in society. The expansion of the government bureaucracy has also created a large class loyal to the regime."

Bad

Bashar al-Assad is a horrible person and violent leader. He represents a minority government of Alawite Shiite Moslems, who represent less than twenty percent of the country, depriving most of the citizens of Syria from having enough to eat, viable infrastructure, and Rights and Freedoms. He has periodically engaged in the violent repression of both the majority Sunni Moslems and Christian minorities. He is currently (as of April 2012) shelling the city of Homs because the Arab Spring Rebellion is holed up there and has no regard to the many civilians in his line of fire.

As concerns the above quote from the US Embassy, it was given at a time when the United States did not wish to offend the Syrian government by speaking honestly about its internal situation. Given the change that Arab Spring has prompted, the West has become much more critical of Arab Illiberal Democracies.