Survey Finds Three of Ten Americans Are Clueless
By Robert Higgs • Sunday January 18, 2009 11:36 AM PDT • 9 Comments
A recent public-opinion survey reports the following findings:
Sixty-eight percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday said that Bush’s eight years in the White House were a failure. . . . Thirty-one percent said they consider Bush’s presidency a success. . . . Only 3 percent of those questioned say Bush was one of the greatest presidents in the nation’s history.
So, there you have it: approximately three in ten Americans either don’t speak enough English to understand the word “success,” or they do understand the word, but they have not paid any attention to public affairs during the past eight years and, when polled, made a wild guess in response to the question.
As for the 3 percent who consider Bush to have been one of the greatest presidents, they would appear to be suitable material for the men in the white coats. Bush successful? Bush great? At what, pray tell? Certainly not at anything for which one would wish him success or greatness.
Great at mangling the English language.
Frank | Jan 18, 2009 | Reply
I am in the 31% who think President Bush has been a success. I believe with all my heart this two term President was the right man to keep America safe. That is the number one job of the President and he has done that job very well. All else pales compared to this.
I believe that the constant undeserved vitriol directed at President Bush by the left over the last 8 years has turned public opinion against him. The “Big Lie” theory does work. To listen to the left, President Bush hasn’t done one thing correct in his entire eight years in office, which is absolutely absurd.
It is very interesting that he has a higher public opinion rating than the congress, which has been controlled by the Democrats since the last mid-term elections.
History will tell his final place. Maybe he will be judged fairly over time.
Gary | Jan 18, 2009 | Reply
A lot of Americans live in fantasy worlds. Usually this isn’t obvious, except when the two worlds collide and something slips out that is stunningly bizarre when seen in our world.
Rose Colored Glasses | Jan 18, 2009 | Reply
With time, and much historical massaging, I predict George W. Bush will be looked upon as one of the greatest presidents ever. Since most polls of historians show that it is the war-like presidents who find the most glory, it doubtful that Bush will not be seen as a “strong leader” who “did what had to be done” to defeat “Islamo-fascism”. There is nothing like a couple of decades to erase the collective memory of lies, deceit and mass murder.
Sukrit | Jan 19, 2009 | Reply
As I simply put it (along with the writers of the articles included) in the Jan. 17 issue of my modest z-zine, which is about George W. Bush and the reason his departure from the White House is welcome to so many Americans — Good riddance — http://tinyurl.com/8u72lk.
Yeah. I’m among the 68 percent. And because I think and reason and observe, I have been among the percentage who have seen failure written all over the presidency for longer than the six past years.
Joe B. | Jan 19, 2009 | Reply
Mr. Bush has been great in spending our money on military adventures that needn’t have been undertaken, building the power of the executive branch at the expense of the Constitution, and alienating much of the rest of the world. Depending on how many friends his family has in high places and in the mainstream media as well as in the world of book publishers,he may or may not be remembered as he was.....a bad president who hurt, not helped, his country and the world as a whole.
Steve Hill | Jan 20, 2009 | Reply
He didn’t keep 4000 American soldiers safe. Nor 100000 Iraqis. Nor Americans killed by illegal aliens.
John Smith | Jan 20, 2009 | Reply
Wow...I still can’t believe that anyone supports Bush...but considering the masses are asses, and from what I experienced and learned, it’s clearly the product of brain washing success. We were never in danger, the US put us in the danger to begin with, and then Bush lies to get us in more danger, and now people actually applaud... LOL! Cause and effect is a fabulous theory, and if used in this case, clearly he is the worst president ever....especially considering his very oath was to preserve and protect the US Constitution. Unless you personnally profitting from the few rulers that are obviously trying to take over and you are still completely disallusioned, most of us just want happiness that comes with freedom.
Lilie | Jan 20, 2009 | Reply
Usually Robert Higgs is a thoughtful and often insightful commentator but here he is clearly showing bias over analysis.
For one thing it is easy to over generalize from any particular; much more difficult to clearly define, establish context and only then proceed to rational conclusion.
In this case President Bush was successful at some things and not at others but it is a tenuous stretch to suggest that he was successful at nothing. In that context the original questioners could reasonably have answered in the affirmative by simply agreeing that he was successful in some of his decisions though not in others.
For example, by observation we can see that over the entire eight years of his presidency there were no additional attacks to the homeland. There were, however, several thwarted attempts. Sure, it could be a measure of luck but let us see how lucky the Obama administration is in the next four years. That will be a better crucible in which to ponder than accepting some of the assumptions we are now forced to make.
Another, though more debatable, accomplishment would be his strengthening of the Executive Branch in light of the threats our country now faces. This in no way diminishes the Legislative responsibility which should have been the only way we go to war. But in times of external threat the Executive lens focuses our defensive efforts far more effectively than does the Legislative lens. The opposite is the case in aggressive imperial adventures.
If Mr. Higgs had stuck to what he is most exemplary at, which is his prodigious analytical skill, and not jumped to conclusions, which underscore his bias, he might have made a more memorable point.
In short, emotions are not tools of cognition.
P.S. How intellectually rigorous would it be for me to suggest that the 68% were duped into their answers by the overwhelming bias of the Progressive media?
John Kleiner | Jan 25, 2009 | Reply