What did George Bush accomplish?

Answer 1

George Bush accomplished many things like, becoming the 41st president and becoming Reagan's vice president and for being a good leader for the United States of America. He also went to serve for the United States Navy while his son George W. Bush also served for the Air Force, and that is what they accomplished

Answer 2

1. Disarmament deal with North Korea - five years and maybe 10 bombs late, but there would seem to be at least a reasonable chance that this rogue will be effectively disarmed. After poking the polecat Kim Jong II and stimulating North Korea's successful weaponization, the Bush Administration has patiently tread a multilateral path that's yielded at least the potential of a good outcome.

2. Bringing Gaddafi in from the cold: a long process with an array of carrots and sticks, but the invasion of Iraq may have concentrated this dictator's mind.

3. Massive increase in AIDS aid: perhaps thanks to Christianist prodding, Bush has showed admirable focus and follow-through on one of the greatest threats to global prosperity.

4. Prescription drug benefit: too expensive, the donut hole is inefficient, private insurers have too great a role, and the drug companies got a giveaway. But seniors do have substantial help in paying their drug bills.

5. No Child Left Behind: the mandate's unfunded and the loopholes in assessment are ridiculous. But we have the halting beginnings of assessing where we're at, state-by-state and district-by-district, in educational achievement.

6. No terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11: no one will ever know all the reasons why, and many of Bush's "antiterror" measures have come at a dreadful price. But preventing another attack was probably Bush's top priority -- quite a heartfelt one. And there has not been another attack -- here -- on his watch.

7. The FISA bill he wanted: Bush has to know that he's gone all out on this front probably to hand expanded capabilities to a Democratic President. He's probably been motivated partly by the need to obtain cover for his own crimes in breaking FISA. But again, he's doubtless convinced that the intelligence agencies need the powers he's obtained for them. And they probably do need most of them.

8. Decent stewardship of the China relationship:China-bashing on the economic front is mostly demagoguery; it's in everyone's interest that China continue on a peaceful path to first-world economic stature and attendant global influence. The Bush crew has maintained trust and cooperation; it's doubtful whether more pressure could have shaped Chinese economic or geopolitical decisions more to our liking.

9. Deposing the Taliban: yes, the caveats outweigh the accomplishment: we let bin Ladin escape, we took our eye off the ball, we allowed al Qaeda to regroup and left a foundling government in a shattered country to its own devices. But who's to say the initial campaign couldn't have been botched? The Taliban went swiftly, with a minimum of blood.

10. Deposing Saddam: again, the price paid and the terms chosen were catastrophic. This was not a job to be undertaken on false pretenses, without winning our chief allies' assent or the world's acceptance; it was the wrong war at the wrong time, and it gave new life to our worst enemies. But Saddam was a threat to stability in the Middle East and therefore in the world. Iraqis would have had to cope with his end at some point, and who's to say the transition would have been better without the heavy hand of the hegemon? There is now at least a reasonable hope that a non-monstrous national government will assert control over Iraq. Which suggests another accomplishment:

11. The Surge: if a hedge fund manager loses $700 million out of a $1 billion, do we credit him with decisions that bring the balance back up to a half billion? A poor analogy. Money is easily accounted; lives can't be, and actual historical outcomes can't be compared with might-have-beens. Nonetheless, whatever you think of the decision to go to war or of the first four years of its execution, the surge was an extraordinarily difficult decision that's worked better than basically anyone expected. It was also something of a reversal for Bush, who had lived and died by the Rumsfeld doctrine to that point. I don't think anyone can deny that the opportunity for a decent outcome in Iraq is far greater now than in fall 2006; to deny the surge's centrality in the turnaround is deep denial. Yes, those who designed and executed it got lucky - but they made their own luck. The surge enabledthe Sunni Awakening, the Sadr rope-a-dope, and the long-delayed beginnings of legislative progress.

So there you have it. I have not convinced myself that Bush was a good President, or even not a monstrous President -- I consider the institutionalization of torture as established U.S. policy a truly monstrous legacy. So what exactly is the point of this exercise? Perhaps its this: in a long-established democracy, there's almost an institutional inertia toward some constructive action. After a Rumsfeld, institutional pressures and norms will push up a Gates. While stalwart nonpolitical appointees like Richard Clarke may get pushed out, others, like Christopher Hill will remain. Even a bad crew remains accountable to a large degree to voters. As long as people don't vote away their civil liberties or other Constitutional protections, the system self-regulates and self-corrects.

Answer 3

Yes, he accomplished a lot, but nothing good. Some things he "accomplished" were starting a pointless war, causing us to be loosing a war that should be easy for us to win, making all the other countries hate America, torturing innocent people, an enormous national debt and budget deficit, the worst financial crisis since the great depression and many more. With all his accomplishments he really deserves an approval rating much lower than 20%.

Answer 4

Key events in the administration of George H. W. Bush

• Taxes - (1991) after campaigning for no new taxes, Bush agreed to a series of tax increases on gasoline, cigarettes, beer, and new luxury taxes on yachts,fancy carsand aircraft.
• Savings and Loan Crisis(1989)- after a series of failures in savings bank, bail-outs were made and the federal agencies over the banks were revamped.
• Third World Debt(1989) used pushed for forgiveness of a portion of the debts owed by developing countries.
• Nicaragua (1989): The Sandinista regime fell. The Contras returned home. Free elections were held and the US promised aid.
• Invasion of Panama and arrest of Noriega: (December 20,1989-January 3,1990) US troops invaded Panama and arrested the president, Manuel Noriega, who was convicted of drug trafficing and sentenced to 40 years. The UN and most of our allieds condemned the invasion.
• Break-up of the Soviet Union. (1989-1991): Germany reunited, Poland, Czechchoslovakia, Hungary, Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia freed of Russian troops; Somr 15 Soviet Republics withdrew from the Union.
• START :(July 31,1992)Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed with Russia. Nuclear missiles were withdraw from Europe.
• Persian Gulf War(1990-1991) - began when Iraq invaded Kuwait. US freed Kuwait, but did not interfere with Iraq's internal government.
• Americans with Disabilites Act (1990) -far reaching act requiring wheel-chair access, etc. passed .
• Clean Air Act of 1990 - anti-pollution devices required on cars and smoke-stacks.

Answer 5

Depends on who you ask.