Archive for the ‘Bush family’ Category

George W. Bush’s legacy by the numbers

Thursday, April 25, 2013 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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With the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas today, historians and political pundits are taking a second look at the 43rd president’s legacy.

We’d like to offer you a dispassionate view of the Bush record, culled from objective data. Here’s a sampling:

ECONOMIC GROWTH:

GDP growth, adjusted for inflation, for each president

President Real GDP Growth Ranking
Franklin D. Roosevelt + 9.6 % 1 of 13
John F. Kennedy +5.2% 2 of 13
Lyndon Johnson +5.1% 3 of 13
Bill Clinton +3.6% 4 of 13
Dwight Eisenhower +3.6% 5 of 13
Ronald Reagan +3.5% 6 of 13
Jimmy Carter +3.2% 7 of 13
Richard Nixon +3.0% 8 of 13
George W. Bush +2.2% 9 of 13
Gerald Ford +2.1% 10 of 13
George H.W. Bush +2.1% 11 of 13
Harry Truman +1.1% 12 of 13
Herbert Hoover -15.0% 13 of 13

 

JOB CREATION:

President Percentage increase in jobs Ranking
Lyndon Johnson 3.8% 1 of 11
Jimmy Carter 3.1% 2 of 11
Bill Clinton 2.4% 3 of 11
John F. Kennedy 2.3% 4 of 11
Harry Truman 2.2% 5 of 11
Richard Nixon 2.2% 6 of 11
Ronald Reagan 2.1% 7 of 11
Gerald Ford 1.1% 8 of 11
Dwight Eisenhower 0.9% 9 of 11
George H.W.Bush 0.6% 10 of 11
George W. Bush 0.3% 11 of 11

Source: Washington Post data

WORKERS’ INCOME:

Inflation-adjusted changes in per capita income

President Percentage change Ranking
Lyndon Johnson 4.1% 1 of 11
John F. Kennedy 3.1% 2 of 11
Ronald Reagan 2.7% 3 of 11
Richard Nixon 2.6% 4 of 11
Bill Clinton 2.3% 5 of 11
Gerald Ford 2.1% 6 of 11
Jimmy Carter 1.8% 7 of 11
George W. Bush 1.3% 8 of 11
Dwight Eisenhower 1.3% 8 of 11
Harry Truman 0.8% 10 of 11
George H.W. Bush 0.1% 11 of 11

Source: Washington Post data

INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT DEBT:

Increase in the national debt during each presidency

President Increase in national debt Ranking
Franklin D. Roosevelt 929% 1 of 12
Ronald Reagan 179% 2 of 12
George W. Bush 88% 3 of 12
Richard Nixon 49% 4 of 12
Jimmy Carter 42% 5 of 12
Bill Clinton 40% 6T of 12
George H.W. Bush 40% 6T of 12
Gerald Ford 22% 8 of 12
Dwight Eisenhower 20% 9 of 12
Harry Truman 20% 10 of 12
Lyndon Johnson 13% 11 of 12
John F. Kennedy 10% 12 of 12

Source: Houston Chronicle analysis of government data

 

STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE:

Dow Jones Average’s annual change during each presidency

President Stock market change Ranking
Bill Clinton +28% 1 of 13
Dwight Eisenhower +21% 2 of 13
Franklin D. Roosevelt +17% 3T of 13
Ronald Reagan +17% 4T of 13
Harry Truman +16% 5T of 13
Gerald Ford +16% 5T of 13
George H.W. Bush +11% 7 of 13
Lyndon Johnson +6% 8T of 13
John F. Kennedy +6% 8T of 13
Jimmy Carter No change 10 of 13
George W. Bush -2% 11 of 13
Richard Nixon -3% 12 of 13
Herbert Hoover -20% 13 of 13

END-OF-TERM JOB APPROVAL:

Job approval at the end of each presidency

President Final approval rating Ranking
Franklin D. Roosevelt 72% 1 of 12
Bill Clinton 65% 2 of 12
Ronald Reagan 64% 3 of 12
John F. Kennedy 63% 4 of 12
Dwight Eisenhower 59% 5 of 12
Lyndon Johnson 49% 6 of 12
George H.W. Bush 56% 7 of 12
Gerald Ford 53% 8 of 12
Jimmy Carter 34% 9 of 12
Harry Truman 32% 10 of 12
George W. Bush 27% 11 of 12
Richard Nixon 24% 12 of 12

JOB APPROVAL (HIGHEST POINT):

Highest approval ratings of each presidency

President Highest rating Ranking
George W. Bush 92% 1 of 12
George H.W. Bush 89% 2 of 12
Harry Truman 87% 3 of 12
Franklin D. Roosevelt 84% 4 of 12
Lyndon Johnson 80% 5T of 12
John F. Kennedy 80% 6T of 12
Dwight Eisenhower 79% 7 of 12
Jimmy Carter 75% 8 of 12
Gerald Ford 74% 9 of 12
Bill Clinton 73% 10 of 12
Ronald Reagan 68% 11 of 12
Richard Nixon 67% 12 of 12

Source: University of Connecticut, Roper Center

JOB APPROVAL (LOWEST POINT):

Lowest approval rating of each presidency

President Lowest rating Ranking
George W. Bush 19% 1 of 12
Harry Truman 22% 2 of 12
Richard Nixon 23% 3 of 12
Jimmy Carter 28% 4 of 12
George H.W. Bush 29% 5 of 12
Ronald Reagan 35% 6T of 12
Lyndon Johnson 35% 6T of 12
Bill Clinton 36% 8 of 12
Gerald Ford 37% 9 of 12
Franklin D. Roosevelt 48% 10T of 12
Dwight Eisenhower 48% 10T of 12
John F. Kennedy 56% 12 of 12

Source: University of Connecticut, Roper Center

U.S. STANDING IN THE WORLD:

Favorable image of the United States

Country 2000 rating 2008 rating Change
Nigeria 46% 64% +18
South Korea 58% 70% +12
Russia 37% 46% +9
India 66% 66% 0
Pakistan 23% 19% -4
South Africa 65% 60% -5
Brazil 56% 47% -9
Spain 50% 33% -17
Poland 86% 68% -18
France 64% 44% -20
Mexico 68% 47% -21
Argentina 50% 22% -28
Japan 77% 50% -27
Great Britain 83% 53% -30
Indonesia 75% 37% -38
Turkey 52% 12% -40
Germany 78% 31% -47

Note: The initial surveys in South Africa and India were conducted in 2002.

Source: The Pew Research Center

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To read Rick Dunham’s comprehensive report on President Bush’s legacy, click here.

George W. Bush’s top five successes — and failures

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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To mark the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, we offer you a glimpse back at the greatest triumphs and mistakes of his years on the national stage.

Here are our choices. Feel free to add your own by posting a comment.

TOP SUCCESSES

1. There were no successful terrorist attacks on the U.S. homeland after September 11, 2001.

The president united the nation in the immediate aftermath of the al Qaeda attacks. His administration, working with local law enforcement agencies and other nations, foiled all terrorism plots for the next seven-plus years.

2. Bush became just the fourth Republican president in American history to serve two full terms.

The first three: Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald W. Reagan. But unlike the other three, who won six landslides, Bush had two close calls. His 2000 victory (while losing the popular vote) will go down as one of the most hotly disputed in U.S. history. His 2004 re-election was by a slim 2.5 percentage point margin.

3. The president won the biggest tax cut in American history.

Candidate Bush promised to cut taxes. President Bush did just that. The income tax rate cuts returned money to all Americans — but particularly the wealthy. Inheritance tax rates also were slashed and the marriage penalty was ended. The biggest victory for Bush came four years after he left the presidency when President Obama agreed to make the Bush tax cuts permanent on all but the top one-half of 1 percent of Americans.

4. Bush signed into law the biggest expansion of an entitlement program since the Great Society: the Medicare drug benefit.

The drug benefit divided Republicans in the House of Representatives but House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas twisted enough arms to give Bush a narrow but historic legislative victory. It was the legislative high point of the Bush presidency.

5. Bush’s administration prevented a calamitous meltdown of the U.S. financial system in the fall of 2008.

Though derided as a “Wall Street bailout,” Bush’s rapid response to the imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system may have prevented another Great Depression from beginning in the waning days of his presidency. Yes, money was wasted. Yes, “bad guys” got some bailout money. Yes, no banking execs ended up behind bars. But things could have been much, much worse if the president hadn’t convinced Congress to act.

TOP FAILURES

1. Bush led the nation into war with Iraq on incorrect intelligence reports.

Historians are still debating whether the administration deliberately lied or relied on faulty and false intelligence reports in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. There were no weapons of mass destruction, no “mushroom cloud” on the horizon and no al Qaeda tie to Saddam Hussein.

2. U.S. economic performance was its weakest since Herbert Hoover’s presidency.

Bush inherited the largest surplus in American history and left office with the largest deficit (since surpassed by Barack Obama). His overall record of job creation, personal income and stock market performance is the worst since the Hoover presidency, though Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter are down there with him.

3. Anti-terrorism tactics employed by the Bush administration damaged U.S. standing in the world.

The Global War on Terror (GWOT), as it was named by Bush, featured controversies such as the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where terrorism suspects were held without charges. “Enhanced interrogation” techniques — called torture by most critics — scarred the United States’ reputation around the world. Secret prisons in Eastern Europe were denounced by many nations, including some U.S. allies. Republicans such as Sen. John McCain and Democrats including Sen. Barack Obama called for Bush to shut down Gitmo. He didn’t. Neither has Obama in his first five years as president.

4. The U.S. government failed to capture bin Laden or secure Afghanistan.

Bush promised to take the al Qaeda leader “dead or alive” and famously declared, “Bring ‘em on.” American policymakers, focused on Iraq, allowed bin Laden to escape at Tora Bora, months after the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden survived Bush’s presidency, but was brought in “dead or alive” by Obama. The Afghanistan war, now winding down, is the longest war in U.S. history. Even now, there is high anxiety about Afghanistan’s future after the departure of U.S. combat troops.

5. The Republican Party suffered major setbacks in Bush’s second term.

Bush was sworn in as president with a Republican House and a Republican Senate. By the time he turned the Oval Office over to Barack Obama, Democrats were in control of both houses of Congress. And while Republicans have regained control of the House, its conservative leaders have used Bush’s record as a case study in what they don’t want: out-of-control federal spending (domestic and military), new federal entitlements (Medicare drug benefit), government bailouts (financial industry, auto industry) and unfunded federal mandates (education reform).

Is Obama’s popularity at a tipping point?

Monday, April 8, 2013 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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Here’s a bit of political trivia from a proud history major:

The first April of a second presidential term has proven to be a tipping point in the popularity of re-elected presidents.

For George W. Bush and Richard M. Nixon, it was all downhill from there. For Bill Clinton (despite impeachment) and Ronald Reagan (despite the Iran-Contra scandal), it was a pathway to historically high job approval ratings.

The new CNN/ORC poll released today placed Obama at 51 percent, very close to the April approval ratings of each of the four other second-term presidents.

What comes next? That’s for the history books.

>>> Explore Gallup’s historical polling data and come up with your own comparisons.

The ten most popular political conspiracy theories (PHOTO GALLERY)

Friday, April 5, 2013 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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Public Policy Polling likes to throw us a curve ball occasionally, with a survey that isn’t the usual Democrat vs. Republican election match-up.

The newest is some offbeat polling on public opinion on various political conspiracy theories. Here are PPP’s top ten — and then a few that are way, way out there.

1. 51 percent of voters believe that John F. Kennedy’s assassination was a conspiracy.

2. 44 percent of voters believe that George W. Bush intentionally lied about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction in order to lead the nation to war against Saddam Hussein.

3. 37 percent of voters believe global warming is a hoax.

4. 29 percent of voters believe aliens exist and that governments around the world are covering up evidence of it.

5. 28 percent of voters believe secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian one-world government, the New World Order (as enunciated by the first President George Bush).

6. 28 percent of voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

7. 21 percent of voters say the U.S. government for more than six decades has covered up a UFO crash in Roswell, N.M.

8. 20 percent of voters believe the government is hiding a link between childhood vaccines and autism.

9. 15 percent of voters say the government (or the corporate media) has added mind-controlling technology to TV signals.

10. 14 percent of voters believe the CIA was instrumental in creating the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s in America’s cities.

How many of these conspiracies do you subscribe to?

Here are a few others that didn’t quite make the list:

– 13 percent of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ

– 7% of voters think the moon landing was faked

– 6 percent of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive

– 4 percent of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power.

And for a reality check: 2 percent of Texas Republicans think that Rick Perry should be their party’s presidential nominee in 2016. Gotta give it to the lizard people.

Some New Year’s Resolutions for prominent politicians

Wednesday, January 2, 2013 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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Happy 2013, everyone!

While I’ll be celebrating New Year’s Day with my annual open house (you’re invited), our elected officials are nursing a case of fiscal-cliff hangover.

Here are some New Year’s Resolutions for the powerful and dysfunctional:

President Obama: Invite the other children over to your house more often.

John Boehner: Smoke more. Worry less.

Harry Reid: Pass a budget. Heck, pass anything!

Hillary Clinton: Rest up.

Joe Biden: Rest up.

Mitt Romney: Look for a job.

Rick Perry: Decide which job to look for.

John Kerry: Practice your French.

Ashley Judd: Buy a comfortable pair of running shoes.

Mitch McConnell: Watch all of Ashley Judd’s movies.

Marco Rubio: Buy a good road map of Iowa.

Chris Christie: Buy a good road map of New Hampshire.

Paul Ryan: Buy a good road map of South Carolina.

Jan Brewer: Buy a good road map of Arizona.

Joaquin Castro: Practice the phrase, “no, that’s my brother.”

Julian Castro: Practice the phrase, “no, I’m not a congressman.”

Mark Sanford: Hike the Appalachian Trail again. No, really.

Jenny Sanford: Make sure Mark never gets elected to anything ever again.

Jim DeMint: Make a million dollars.

Dick Armey: Make eight million dollars.

Connie Mack and Mary Bono Mack: Spend more time with the family.

George H.W. Bush: Get well soon! (From all of us.)

‘Put the harps back in the closet,’ says George H.W. Bush aide

Friday, December 28, 2012 by:jana.kasperka@chron.com (Jana Kasperkevic)
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The national media has been keeping a close eye on the former President George H. W. Bush as he has spent over a month in a Houston hospital. The 41st president was initially hospitalized day after Thanksgiving due to a persistent cough that was later diagnosed as bronchitis.

The doctors hoped that Bush would recover and be on his way home in time for the holidays, but instead after suffering set backs such as persistent fever, the former president was admitted into the intensive care unit on Sunday, days before Christmas.

After the nation has taken to the internet to pray and express their support for the Bush family, his chief of staff Jean Becker has asked that they “put the harps back in the closet” as the former president plans to stick around.

Here is Becker’s full message, as it first appeared in POLITICO:

Someday President George H.W. Bush might realize how beloved he is, but of course one of the reasons why he is so beloved is because he has no idea.

Most of the civilized world emailed/called/texted yesterday after we released this statement to the media:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 26, 2012

STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT BUSH’S CONDITION

HOUSTON — Following is a statement by Bush family spokesman Jim McGrath.

“Following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever, President Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital on Sunday where he remains in guarded condition. Doctors at Methodist continue to be cautiously optimistic about the current course of treatment. The President is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family.”

We had been resisting putting out a statement for a couple of reasons: 1) Out of respect for President Bush and the Bush family who, like most of us, prefer to deal with health issues in privacy; and 2) because he is so beloved we knew everyone would overreact.

I am reminded of the line in the movie “A Few Good Men,” when Jack Nicholson yells at Tom Cruise: “You can’t handle the truth.” (That was supposed to make you laugh …)

So here is what you need to know:

• Yes, President Bush is in ICU where he is getting the best medical care in the world. We know you all have great doctors/hospitals where you live, but I can assure you that the healthcare he is getting at Methodist Hospital in Texas Medical is unequaled anywhere.
• Is he sick? Yes. Does he plan on going anywhere soon? No. He has every intention of staying put. He would ask me to tell you to please “put the harps back in the closet.”
• Will he be in the hospital for a while? Yes. He is 88 years old, he had a terrible case of bronchitis which then triggered a series of complications.
• Is there anything you can do? Yes, of course. Keep him and the family in your prayers. I am thinking heaven has not seen such a barrage of prayer intentions since “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

I hope you all know how much your love, concern, and support are appreciated.

Last but not least: The other thing you can do for President Bush is laugh, since he is the funniest person we’ll ever know…

Poll: Public demands deal — but opposes almost every deficit-reduction option

Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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Deal-breakers

Wonder why we can’t get a deficit-reduction deal?

Well, look in the mirror.

A new McClatchy-Marist Poll highlights the dilemma of the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Seventy-one percent of Americans, the poll finds, say it’s important that Congress and the White House reach a deal to avoid automatic spending cuts and tax hikes triggered at the end of the year in the absence of an agreement.

But other than letting the George W. Bush-era tax cuts expire for American families earning more than $250,000, Americans oppose every other option to make major budget savings that was included in the poll.

There is a partisan divide. Republicans oppose every major option on the table, while Democrats and Independents strongly favor an expiration of Bush tax cuts for highest-income Americans (but nothing else).

“Most voters are worried about the fiscal cliff and think reaching a deal by month’s end matters,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “But, like Washington, voters are polarized along party lines on the question of whether to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire and for whom.”

Here’s our visualization of the data. What do you think?

Graphic by Rick Dunham / Hearst Newspapers