44% of Americans would rather have Bush back as President
By AnjaP
@Rollo1 (16679)
Boston, Massachusetts
December 11, 2009 7:37am CST
As Obama's approval rating has declined, he and his administration have told us over and over the reason for the problems facing our country. It seems that everything that has gone wrong, is going wrong or will ever go wrong is directly the fault of George W. Bush. However, that this excuse is wearing thin as a new poll shows that 44% of Americans would rather have Bush back than have Obama as president.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/
It seems that invoking the spectre of George Bush will no longer chase the shadows away from Obama as more and more people long for the days of Dubya. When the public are nostalgic about a president whose popularity rating was at its lowest point less than a year ago, you know there's apprehension about the future.
Will the "Bush did it" excuse be of any use to Obama or the Democrats from here on in? If Obama stops trying to place blame, if he mans up and owns the problems, will his approval rating rise? Will the new-found respect for George W be a help to Republicans in 2010 or will the mistrust of Congress and the currect President be a larger factor? Will the president continue to destroy his own credibility by refusing to own the economy and the wars?
6 people like this
27 responses
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
11 Dec 09
*shudder* Good god, no, not that.
I was thinking the other day though, partly in jest, partly serious, that Obama supporters love Bush. Nearly everything Obama does is justified by "well Bush did it" or "where were you when Bush yadda yadda", so they must absoltely love Bush.
As for 2012, I think things are going to be drasticly different. You are going to see a lot more of (I)
4 people like this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 09
I think Bush got some things wrong while in office but he also got some things right. I think that more than any particular policy, people just preferred it when they believed that at least the president believed what he was saying, even if they disagreed. Obama takes 4 months to make a decision about troop deployment in Afghanistan, then makes a rambling speech that blames it all on Bush and takes all the wind out of the surge by telling us how quickly he will withdraw them all again. Then Clinton and others quickly make the rounds telling us that he didn't mean it, the withdrawal could take a lot longer. If THEY don't know what they are doing, how the hell are we supposed to?
The poll really says that people are not believing Obama, no matter what he says. They don't think he has the interests of the country at heart, nor do they think he represents the majority of Americans.
The liberals definitely pull out the Bush card on every issue. It's getting old and despite the attempts of the media to keep it fresh, people aren't buying it anymore. In my opinion, if Obama continues to try to blame his predecessor for every problem then he is going to continue to lose support. He's already made a huge mess and who knows how long it will take to fix it, but I think he would get more respect if he owned up to it and said he thought it was time to change tactics.
2 people like this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
11 Dec 09
I was never a fan of Bush and his administration. However at this point only one year into Obama's presidency and three more years to go of this utterly dreadful administration I would take Bush back in a heartbeat!
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 09
You know what, whiteheather? I think that love him or hate him, people felt that Bush meant what he said, that he did love his country and that he was proud of his country. People feel very insecure now, in ways they couldn't have imagined just a year ago, and this poll reflects that feeling. They want to go back to a time when they had real hope for the future, not just a bunch of slogans.
2 people like this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
11 Dec 09
I agree! Never ever did I question Bush's loyalty or love for his country, These are very obviously feelings that Obama does not have.
When Bush was leaving the office of president I did something that was a very unusual thing for me to do as I was always a firm democrat. I emailed President Bush to wish him well and to let him know how much I admired his gentlemanly way of handling all the negative publicity during his last days in the Oval Office.
Now I wish he was back in the saddle as he never IMO did anything against the USA out of malice. However I find everything Obama does is maliciously intended to destroy our country.
1 person likes this
@mysticmaggie (2498)
• United States
12 Dec 09
Bush was a cowboy and proud of it! So was Reagan. Both showed an enormous pride in the USA and for that I was proud to call each of them my President. Mr. O makes me ashamed every time he goes abroad and bows to kiss the feet and other sundry parts of other leaders anatomies. Real presidents come in as equals not subservient to another power as he does.
How many more times will he apologize for a country that helps around the world with troops, money, products and allowing more trade incoming than outgoing? Now he's opting to play the fake Al Gore game of global warming, which is nothing more than a ploy to tax, tax, tax anyone who actually has things like a fireplace, cars, boats, homes, bodies that break wind at their tushes and don't forget the farting farm animals!
He champions the muslim terrorists and destroys our troops who are doing their jobs, which leads me to ask "Who's side is this man on?" It certainly isn't America's.
I would happily take Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeldt and Connie back in a heartbeat. They actually loved this country.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
11 Dec 09
The trouble with Obama is he is the kind that makes a mountain out of a molehill. Now Bush started the Patriotic Act, and other things to address one problem, the terrorists who blew up the Twin Towers and the necessity to make sure that none of that happens again. After all some of the terrorists entered America in the guise of decent immigrants. And I am sure that had Bush been allowed to go a third term, many of the rules would have been done away, but Obama is different, he wants to reverse all of Bush's decisions, good or bad and that is wrong.
Bush was against embryonic stem research, so Obama is for it Bush was against abortion on demand, so Obama is for it. (The fact that more African American babies are aborted will be taken care of. Obama will probably make a rule that help will be given to African Americans so they have the finances not to kill their babies, but that will not apply to those of other ethnic groups. Wait a few years.) Bush was for talk radio shows being able to be conservative. Obama wants them to be all liberal. Bush was against homosexuality. Obama is for it. Bush was for the ask don't tell. Obama does not care if the private in the bunk cannot sleep because he is afraid that the other private will jump on him because Obama says it is all right to tell and enlist.
and so the list goes on.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
13 Dec 09
That is the trouble, not every American is in favor of Obama's policies and those who are not have not been touched by what those policies would mean. Now in
Canada we had a left leaning Liberal government for most of the period from the 60s to the 90s with a few year of Conservative (or idea of Republicans)to make it interesting. Well during the 1970s I was trying to ge to pregnant, but the government at that time just made-it so there was no law forbidding abortion up until birth. Consequently help at getting pregnant was at a low level. Now I always wanted to get pregnant and tried very hard and when that failed, adopted, but I am sure there are some women who in their 20s who would have gotten pregnant if it was encouraged more, and now in their 60s sort of regret that no one prodded them.
So in 30 or more years, how many women are going to regret not getting cnouranged or going to that family planning clinic?
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 09
"The trouble with Obama is he is the kind that makes a mountain out of a molehill. "
I think this is correct, and people perceive Obama as being whiny. He won't take the heat for his decisions, always trying to deflect by blaming the previous administration.
As for the Patriot Act, it's hard to be in favor of it but it was effective. Had they put in some stringent safeguards to prevent it being renewed, it would have had more support from me. To renew and expand it is unconscionable at a time when it is clear that even a self-declared enemy of the US in our own Army is not investigated properly.
It may be that the left or Obama feel that going to the extreme opposite of the former administration's policies is what the public wants. But as they do so, they still tell us that Bush did the same thing, or did it first, whenever they come under criticism. The clear fact is that they don't think the way the majority of the public think, and that is where the real dissatisfaction stems from.
2 people like this
@animegirl334 (3263)
• United States
12 Dec 09
I think sometimes people just want what they don't have. My teacher used to hate Bush and always talk about what a bad job he is doing but after Bush left office, my teacher says maybe Bush might not have been doing such a bad job.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
11 Dec 09
I wouldn't go that far. I don't want Bush back. But I would like a decent president.
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 09
Given a choice of anyone as president, the poll might have ended differently. Probably Obama's numbers would have been lower if the question was "who would you prefer as president?" but the choice was likely just between Bush and Obama. I think that more than being a true test of Bush's favorability, this poll is an indicator of the mistrust people feel towards Obama.
2 people like this
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
11 Dec 09
That statistic is astonishing to me. Who do these 44% think is responsible for the mess that the country is in? Hard to blame anyone other than a Republican President and a Republican congress that was in charge of the country for 8 years. I consider myself one of those Independents who voted for Obama but I'm disappointed in his performance. I'm holding his feet to the fire on health care and on the war. A lot of young people voted for him because of his stance on the war and it now seems like he's waffling on his original position. It seems that while John McCain told us a message that we didn't want to hear that he was right. I can only hope (but have little confidence that it will happen) that all of the people who voted for Obama will hold him accountable for his campaign promises. Quite honestly, I don't see how one can expect Obama to "own the economy or the wars." He clearly was not responsible for either problem. I do agree however that it's time for everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike, to man up. Stop playing the politics as usual and fix this mess.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 09
They might think it's Congress, which has been controlled by Democrats since 2006, and they'd be right. They might think that the spiralling deficit is Obama's fault, and they'd be right. They might think that the hostile business and tax environment created by this administration is slowing any recovery of jobs, and they'd be right. They might think that a government can't continue to spend money it doesn't have and still have a thriving economy, and they'd be right.
Sometimes the truth isn't popular, but it's always better to know the truth than to believe in meaningless promises. There's been no transparency, there has been politics as usual and I agree, it's time for ALL politicians of any party to start taking responsibility and to do the right thing. Even if the right thing doesn't sound as pleasing as the impossible promises.
1 person likes this
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
11 Dec 09
I do agree that we should deal in fact here. Please check to see what the deficit wa at the end of the Clinton administration and what it was at the end of the Bush administration. I think that you will find the result stunning. You really can't blame all of this on Democrats. I hate the spend mentality but with teh Republicans it was much of the same. The spiraling deficit? I agree but what would you have had done here. Should we have allowed the world to fall in to an economic collapse? I don't like the bailout but quite honestly, I'm not sure that there was any alternative. In terms of a Democrat controlled congress, IMHO that is a cop out. Who was holding the reins of the country in his hands? I won't accept that explanation from Barack Obama and I won't accept that explanation from George Bush. Where is the leadership here? An individual running a corporation in this manner would quickly be handed their walking papers. The most significant reason for the deficit is the war in Iraq, a war that Bush had no business starting but once he did, it's an impossible thing to get out of. We will be paying for generations to come for a war that ostensibly started over non existent weapons of mass destruction but frankly like most of American policy in the mid East had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction or liberating the poor Iraqi people from a merciless dictator but had everything to do with oil.
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
11 Dec 09
Hit the button too early. Can you tell that I think that politicans are lower than pond scum? LOL
@laglen (19759)
• United States
12 Dec 09
I figured for months now that Obamas - its not my fault! would be the end of him. I always liked Bush. Not everything he did, but enough that I would have voted for him again if he hadnt been term limited (which I believe whole heartedly in). I think people are seeing the path Obama is driving us down and it is finally starting to scare them. duh - which that would have been sooner. I really hope that this is reflected in the 2010 election!
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
12 Dec 09
Im not American, but we do receive a lot of news regartding American politics. It really surprises me that 44% off Ameruicans woukld want Bush back. I thoyght he was very unpopular, and not even very intelligent.
I think it is going to be very difficult for Obama, no matter what he does. Being honest does help, and actively working towards solving the countries problems will go a long way to increasing his popularity
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
12 Dec 09
It was the media that told us that Bush was not intelligent. The media tells us that Obama is very intelligent, yet Obama has used an executive order to seal ALL of his education records, so it would be very difficult to assess his intelligence.
Honesty is one thing we have not seen from Obama. He has not kept his promises of transparency, he's lied about policies, issues, and the health care bill just to promote his position.
1 person likes this
@salam1 (1474)
• Malaysia
11 Dec 09
my personal opinion is Bush is a strong leader. he makes strong decisions such as fought in two wars at a time, etc, etc. he is not a very attractive person but he fights like a man. he is quick and even though people did not like him much everybody would agree that bush is a man of action after the 911. effective action or not it seems that bush did his best to his country and people. even though i do not like bush (especially because he beating the bush in iraq, afghanistan, and iran), i respect him as a strong US president.
for obama, I think people still waiting for him to do something 'big'. while bush always making newspaper headline (for good reason and not), obama is not..
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Dec 09
I have to agree with you that Bush had to make tough decisions, and he made them. He took the heat on some of them, but he never lashed out when he was criticized in the press, nor declared war on a news network that did unfavorable stories about him. Afghanistan was the right decision after 9/11 and it was necessary. Iraq continues to be an unpopular decision, but whether or not the intel he had was good, I think that at least initially, he believed it was good. In fact, it has been revealed that the info about WMDs in Iraq was purposely put out there by Hussein to scare Iran so that they wouldn't attack Iraq.
In any case, Obama is failing to impress people and they feel uneasy. It may be a perception of weakness. I agree that a president must appear decisive and strong to make the people feel secure in his leadership.
1 person likes this
@hotsummer (13837)
• Philippines
12 Dec 09
i am pro Bush ever since and for good reasons though. I felt that BUsh was unfairly criticized on the war of Iraq. but i think he did this because he wanted to make sure that his own beloved country will not be attacked again. It was the worse time in history with the 9/11 . i think that really left a mark in history . it sent shockwaves through the world. it created fear and panic in every nation seeing the most powerful nation attacked just like that.
i think that bush was a very good leader though on his second terms his popularity declined a lot. But i think that obama is not able to help america. i think that Bush should be back or elected again as president if that possible. anyways, i am not from US but this is my belief as an observer from asia.
1 person likes this
@K46620 (1986)
• United States
12 Dec 09
That's pretty bad. Bush was a one of worst Presidents but now Obama is even worse.
Republicans will have a good year in 2010 and we better elect Republicans that actually believe in liberty and limited government. We've had enough career politicians, let's try to get regular Americans in office, like Rand Paul, a career doctor who has never held office.
1 person likes this
@Calebsnana06 (38)
• United States
12 Dec 09
I do not like Obama and his administration. I believe he and his administration wish to make the USA a Socialist country. I think they have been a very dishonest group of people along with the dishonest democrats. I am ashamed to say that I voted for Obama and it is a great regret.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
12 Dec 09
We went into Afghanistan to break up Al Qaeda and find Bin Laden. It was they who declared war on the US first. Hussein caused his own demise with his bragging, his tyranny, his brutality and his refusal to comply with UN inspectors.
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
12 Dec 09
Have you seen this photo of Obama just last week worshipping Allah in a White House religious ceremony? Here is the link:
http://patriotupdate.com/stories/read/2139/PHOTO-Obama-Prays-to-Allah-
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
12 Dec 09
Interestingly, Obama had great support in many nations prior to the election and the world seemed to rejoice when he was elected. Now, they aren't so charmed by him and he's alienated the head of state of more than one allied nation. The world knows his actions can affect other countries and I don't think they're impressed.
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
11 Dec 09
Gee, that's fewer than the number of people who didn't vote for President Obama. I wonder if there had been a poll at around this point in Bush's first term how many would have preferred to have Clinton back? I know I'd have been one of them.
I KNOW you disagree and I know you have your own reasons as I have mine so there's no need to tell me how wrong I am...lol!
Annie
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
12 Dec 09
Don't miss the significance, Annie. This isn't who anyone would vote for if there were an election between two eligible candidates. The poll didn't ask would you rather have someone other than Obama. This poll specifically asked participants to choose between a president whose popularity and approval rating had plummeted to the depths before the end of his second term and a President who has been in office less than one year. They were asked to choose between a former president who, we were led to believe, was one of the most hated and one of the worst presidents ever to serve, and the man who, we have been told, is the best-liked, most intelligent and charming president we've had in decades.
This poll says more about the fears and concerns people have about Obama's leadership than it says about Bush. This poll indicates people would like to push "restart" and do it differently than they did.
1 person likes this
@Revan2009 (469)
•
11 Dec 09
Obama is not great but Bush was worse, I have no idea if Obama will ever reach the lows of Bush... anything is possible.
I say America should elect Yoda, I mean at least he has experience leading wars unlike Obama.
1 person likes this
@epicure35 (2814)
• United States
12 Dec 09
The USURPER "president" won't even own WHO HE IS, nevermind any issues regarding truth, responsibility, or love and protection of Americans and our Constitutional liberties. His mission, goal, and intent as a radical, Muslim, Socialist America- hater is to destroy us as quickly as possible and make it easy for his cohorts, in Islam and radical socialism to overtake and ruin us. Cowardly traitors never "man up" to anything true or just.
Foolish Americans should have noticed this, especially, when he flew a plane low in the NY skyline to scatter us like ants. He could have photo-shopped it, but clearly chose to signal his Islamist friends that he could do as he pleased with impunity and so, now, can they. Of course he couldn't blame Bush for this one, so he feigned indignity and fired one of his flunkies. Notice how jihad activity has risen over 4% since 9/11? Notice how he and fellow thug and Muslim supporter Holder want to confer OUR Constitutional rights on terrorists and parade them in NY to view their handiwork and gloat and blame us? Blame is his game alright, but so much worse, as in murder, blackmail, threats, intimidation, identity theft, and so much more.
This self-confessed dual national (and illegal alien) will NEVER legally and Constitutionally be president in this country and he is counting on the stupidity and ignorance, not to mention cowardice, of so many Americans to allow his treason to prevail.
BHO makes George Bush look like a prince and an intellectual genius. He can't speak a work without a teleprompter or script. He thinks there are 57 states in our country (CLUE, America!). There is neither love nor light nor anything genuine about him, the great deceiver. George Bush could cry real tears, cared deeply about people and our country, and did his best to keep us protected and free from harm and destruction. There is not a spark of charm or charisma about Obama, and , as others have said, his droning monotone has an Arab cadence to it. He is a dark, dark man who hides his true identity at the cost of $2 million to we the taxpayers. He is heartless, and, as Alan Keyes warned us before the fake election, his conscience is seared. He sends our military to die, unprotected by law and the Geneva Convention, as he is not legitimately commander-in-chief, hampers and stunts them against our enemies in every way he can, jails and undermines them for punching a terrorist who wants to gut and behead them, and he is responsible for Ft. Hood's massacre and threatening Congress if they probe the jihad.
Since America sold out to secular humanism and "political correctness" most can no longer see truth, even if it jumps up and smacks them in the face, as has happened repeatedly as this monster continues on his race to demolish us and every ounce of our freedom. HE HAS NO CREDIBILITY WHATSOEVER; we don't even know who he is. Even
if 100% of Americans approved of this diabolical monster, it would never rightfully make him "president" and, as so many knew before the sham "election", he was not legally eligible to hold any office in this country. I would never approve of this non-credible, deceiving traitor. We should be TERRIFIED over what he has done, continues to do and will ultimately do in order to deliver the coup de grace into the very heart of America.
1 person likes this
