Analytical Evaluation of the George Bush Presidency Essay

George H.W. Bush is an American politician that was inaugurated as the 41st president of the U.S. serving from 1989 to 1993. He served for one term prior to losing the 1992 election to Bill Clinton. In assuming the office, Bush is considered to be among the most competent contestants. He had an extensive profession in both domestic politics and foreign affairs. He understood the government bureaucracy very well as he had his hands on the eight years of training as the vice president. However, he lost his presidential success as he failed to induce the American populace in giving him another chance. There are many factors that contributed to George H. Bush downfall and the paper exemplifies those factors by analytically evaluating his presidency.

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Generally, the presidency of Bush was triumphant in foreign affairs but showed dissatisfaction in domestic affairs. In voter's mind, there were no enough achievements that overshadowed the economic recession and that's why the public voted for change in 1992 election. Unlike Bill Clinton who said "I feel your pain," Bush was perceived to be out of touch with the problems of the Americans as this was the moment when the economy was going into recession. Due to this, he was held answerable for the economic state of Americans even though he did not have the tools to control it. When Bush came into office, he promised stability with the Reagan years which he preceded with it vigilantly. However, he was not advocating for drastic change or announcing the sweeping of the plans of domestic. Large budget deficit constrained him and also by the limitation of federal revenue of funding programs. Critics saw that his administration approach lacked vision since there was no effective communication to the public. Even though there was some notable domestic accomplishment including the American Disability Act and the Amendment of Clean Air Act, his attention was more on foreign affairs than on domestic affairs.

Generally, presidents have more influence on foreign policy than on domestic policy and this was on the case of presidency of Bush. Jointly with his collaborative advisers such as James Baker, Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, they overviewed vital achievements. Bush had a conventional nature of holding stability and calmness instead of embracing the bold and dramatic change. Even though this had little control over the unfolding events of the nation, it helped him in serving the Americans during the geopolitical transition moments. Even though bush helped in serving the geopolitical transition period, most American voters felt that Bush was not more concerned with domestic issues. Most were criticizing him for not selling his accomplishments successfully especially when he ran an inept campaign in 1992.

Bush alienated in various ways the conventional wing of the Republican Party by infringing his promises of not raising the taxes and cutting the spending of the military. One of his cornerstones during his 1988 campaign was that there was no charge of tax and he went ahead and said "read my lips, no new taxes". However, when he was faced with a growing budget deficit which was a budget that dealt with congressional Democrats that involved additional of revenue, he broke his promise and added tax hence making the American feel betrayed. His competitor Clinton was much more careful not to alienate his Democratic base. Clinton time was devoted on campaigning trail adopting surprisingly conservative opinions of limiting the federal government power and size and preventing increases in taxes. He saw that Bush was susceptible to issues of taxes and economic recession and hence his opportunity of reversing the growing deficit of the nation and the unemployment rate. In emphasizing his message, he made the Little Rock Headquarters to display an internal memo that read, "It's the economy, stupid". The message was intended to remind the voters of how President Bush had stumbled the economy in his four years of presidency making the nation to undergo a great recession in the economy. Due to this, Clinton was able to convert voters to his side hence leading to his own electoral victory and downfall of Bush.

Unlike Reagan who was a great inspiration and an uplifting speaker to the Americans, Bush appeared to be more of a problem solver with no grand vision. Reagan solved two major problems that had grown worse during Carter's watch by reversing the decline of international prestige of the American and by restoring its industrial growth. He even reduced taxes hence spurring investment and job creation. Also, he reduced the federal government size and balanced the federal budget hence strengthening the national defense. His essential message on the thought of America Politics was that "Freedom from government rather than freedom through government". This enabled the Americans to see Reagan as one president who wanted best for his nation. Bush, who was a successor of Reagan, was less an ideologue that was more than ready to sacrifice expediency of politics in confronting the inherited ballooning of federal deficit. In 1992 campaign, the voters elected a democratic president since they had a desire to change from the past years where they felt their needs were not met.

Family values were another mistake that damaged re-election effort of Bush since it took a connotation that was a gigantic negative. Even though Bush had enjoyed the unusual high approval rates during the Gulf War height, this rapidly dropped to 30% in the months that preceded the election. Some leaders of religious rights including Pat Buchanan eroded his administration by criticizing his tolerance approach of homosexuals. Bush failed to pass the legislation that restricted abortion or other social conservatives concerns which angered most of the evangelical leaders. On the other hand, Clinton gave a cautious support to some number of liberal social issues including abortion rights. Compared to other leading politicians, he also expressed a more tolerant view of homosexuality thus making him overpower Bush who was not concerned with family values.

Bush drove Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. However, he did not remove him from power in Iraq which made the Americans to be upset as a few years later it was his son who did remove Hussein from power. In 1990, Hussein had annexed Kuwait to invade Saudi Arabia. Without listening to Margret Thatcher who claimed that "he might go wobbly, Bush went ahead and put together domestic and international political and military coalition which drove Hussein out of Kuwait without losing many lives of the Americans". His decision of not removing Hussein from power was heavily criticized. This is because he halted the military carnage without pursuing regime change which as a result made him lose the 1992 re-election.

Conclusion

Passage of time is critical as it formulates a factual comprehension of any presidency. Only after many changes have occurred and the policy legacy has completely matured that have brought a candid evaluation on the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Many things have occurred making Bush to be seen as out of touch with the mainstream of the Society of American. Though his presidency had benefits like during the periods of geopolitical transition, he was deemed average by his voters making them vote for Clinton, a Democratic leader whom they saw changes in him.

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