Bush's legacy: Negative or too soon to tell?

LIMA - When President-elect Barack Obama places his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible Jan. 20 to take the oath of office, he'll relieve George W. Bush of a two-term presidency that saw him achieve both the highest and third-lowest Gallup poll approval ratings.

So what will be the legacy of the man whose approval peaked at 90 percent with the invasion of Afghanistan and tanked with the economy to a lowly 25 percent?

The Lima News asked LimaOhio.com visitors to share their thoughts. As of Thursday, 24 comments had been posted, ranging from favorable to that of the worst U.S. president.

Overwhelmingly, commenters predict a poor legacy awaiting Bush.

"His re-election should be in ‘Ripley's Believe it or Not' archives. His handling of a war that should not have happened is repulsive. It makes me most sick though that he was not impeached, reprimanded, or anything," user Devadv wrote. "We all let him do it. Every one of us should be ashamed of ourselves. We have been so desensitized of political wrong-doings and our government being corrupt that it's just commonplace now and nobody does anything."

User Misspearl went even further, writing that Bush may have irreparably damaged the nation.

"A legacy of total failure," Misspearl wrote. "So much so, that we may never recover fully as a nation or as a people."

Several commented negatively about his authorization of wire-tapping and the suspension of habeas corpus for those identified as enemy combatants in the war on terror.

"He will be remembered as the president who used fear to control the nation," wrote user Change4us.

Others saw his actions regarding the war on terror differently.

"I will remember him as the president who kept us safe after the attacks of 9/11," wrote user Theepl.

User Tkeiffer said Bush will be best remembered for how much criticism he endured, deserved or not, and how he was portrayed in the media.

"If Bush is standing in the rain and said it was raining, leftists would say it was not raining. It is amazing to me that after having a habitual liar for a president, that a man who told his exact feelings about everything and told the truth all the time, is the one that is called a liar. Since liberals write the papers, Bush will be remembered for his negatives and not his positives."

Others said it's simply too soon to tell how history will judge the 43rd president.

"He's made a lot of mistakes, namely kowtowing to the left, but he's a good person in spite of not being a great president. Maybe," wrote user Happyg. "History might elevate him because of his war on terror and freeing so many people. Who knows at this point?"

User Limalima expects the future to play a role in determining what Bush's legacy of the past eight years will ultimately be.

"An accurate picture won't be seen for 10 to 20 years, and will depend heavily on how Obama's first term pans out. People (voters) as a whole are short-sighted and driven by scandals," Limalima wrote. "In history books he will be best known for the response to 9/11, including the (dubiously linked) Iraq war."