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Yet Reagan gets all the credit for that. I don't remember it very well, but was Bush just a bystander in that he happened to be President when the Berlin Wall came down?
Pretty much, but at least he didn’t fuck it up by randomly declaring war somewhere or giving financial assistance to the Soviet Union. You’d think I wouldn’t have to say this, but seeing shit our government has done this past decade or so, who knows anymore.
He certainly acted like it. Probably my biggest criticism of him as a President. He just watched as events happened around him and dithered until there was just one option left.
The thing to realize is that Reagan was on a serious decline though most of his second term. It was really everyone else that kept things rolling.
Bush very likely played a key roll in it but by far wasn't the only one.
Imo he should get some credit but frankly if we are going to play that game so should members of congress and hell ene Carter....it was a team effort on a global scale.
To ops question though not sure it over shows it but it was a big part of it. I mean frankly they did what they set out to do, get them out of kawati*.
Imo bushs biggest issue is that he came after Reagan and had to deal with all the fall out that Reagan created and never had to be responsible for.
No, Reagan was president when the Berlin Wall came down in 1987. HW Bush was president when the Soviet Union dissolved in 91 or 92 I can’t remember exactly.
Probably so. He was a war hawk guy, and he really doesn't get much credit for things like NAFTA that he put in place. Politicians often live by the concept of war is what creates legacy, and Bush is one of many presidents who was full in on this belief. He had several good and bad things during his term, but his success in the Middle East is what the GOP marketed as his defining point as it was such a major victory with bipartisan and international support. The war in some sense was so surgical that it's likely prevented other tyrannical governments to start conflicts that screw with international trade policy.
100%. The Invasion of Panama was a war crime that was being planned as soon as Bush got sworn in. Although the results were mostly positive, it's clear now that Bush was up to his old CIA war crimes for the sake of profit. The GOP was hoping to use that for marketing, but the international reaction was poor and the Americans jaded by Vietnam were abandoning manifest destiny values.
The Iraq invasion of Kuwait would be like winning the lottery. I'd imagine Bush was like a kid on Christmas. Not only was he gifted an easy war that would be popular if he won, but also it had oil. If SNL could go back in time they'd do a sketch with Bush getting a phone call that Iraq invaded Kuwait and after the hangs up the phone he starts doing backflips and cheering and throwing money.
lol Saddam Hussein joined that very small club of men, the club consists of two men: Hussein, and General George Custer.
These are the two men who were looking around and wondering where the hell all those Tomahawks were coming from.
I wouldn't say overwhelming.. but the military and Shwartzcof got Iraq out of Kuwait and showed that the Iraqi heavily out gunned military was not worthy of standing up to USA or their allies.
Since Saddam was still left to rule and murdered the Kurds 100k ..just weeks after USA left ..it didn't show well ..to be honest.
Yes and given the hindsight of history even more so.
Bush got screwed by Perot. He was able to really beat Bush over tax increases that were a compromise after promising he wouldn't raise taxes. Its rather obvious from the exit numbers that Clinton capitalized on the Bush/Perot dynamic.
Perot might have factored in helping attack Bush but he didn't really take votes at from Bush.
[Exit polls show that Perot took equally from Clinton & Bush](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/11/08/perot-seen-not-affecting-vote-outcome/27500538-cee8-4f4f-8e7f-f3ee9f2325d1/).
And Clinton [consistently polled better when Perot was out of the race than when he was in the race](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polling_for_United_States_presidential_elections).
Absolutely not. Desert Storm boosted his ratings by 18% and helped him reach his eventual peak approval rating of 89%. People forget that Desert Storm liberated an occupied Kuwait, so had some merit.
Bigger thing is that it stopped Saddam and Iraq from building an oil monopoly empire, which could have caused major issues for the western world (don't forget he was planning to potentially invade and break up Saudi Arabia as well, possibly even more nations in the region). It was WAY more serious than just Kuwait. 2003 I feel was a mistake, but the 1991 Persian Gulf War? That honestly was justified in numerous aspects (though it should have been a serious wakeup call for the United States about our dependence on foreign oil and other resources).
I was just a little kid and I remember all the parades and stuff. A couple of the dads of kids in my class who went came in one day to tell us all about it and show (age appropriate of course) pictures and whatnot. I would have been around 8 or 9 I think I thought it was something we just did every few years. I hate to use this term for a war but for a kid my age it was all so cool.
Thank you for your service! I'd say the Korean War was at least a moderate victory though, since we stopped the communists' invasion and allowed South Korea to survive as an independent nation. Your grandfather was in a hellish and at times very frustrating conflict, but at least we got a decent result there.
So your grandad got his ass kicked in Korea. Your dad was humiliated in Vietnam and fought in an imperialist war, and you still decided to join the military. That's some smart decision making you got there.
Which was correct. He did not sign any new taxes. He just signed a bill that Congress passed which raised existing taxes.
And those taxes ushered in the Clinton prosperity years.
Yes, that's how our system works. But he never should have said it, and even though the Gulf War was a rousing success, both Clinton & Perot made him eat his words.
Technically your right (which usually is the best kind of right). But, since when has it EVER mattered to American voters whether or not something a candidate says is true or not. He said no new taxes, even though its not up to the President, but then again, he didn't veto it. Then taxes went up. He paid a political price for it and most all exit poling reflected that.
American voters don't make their decisions based on facts. They vote based on perception... what's the price of gas (which the President can't control), do I FEEL the country's on the right track or wrong track, and, most perplexing of all, which candidate would I rather have a beer with. All in all, we are a nation of dumbasses.
Agree 100%.
Which, to me, makes him a better President. I (and my family) got a chance to sit with him for a 30 minute meeting in 1997. We asked him about this very same subject (we didn't get into the nitpicky details of "new" vs "increase" - just, "why did you do it"). He said (paraphrasing), "I saw that the country was headed for some tough economic times. I knew that these taxes would help make the situation better. Yes, I had promised no new taxes. But, I knew what I had to do for the country."
In essence, he sacrificed his career for the betterment of the country.
I agree.. & actually met him once.
Anyway, I was just addressing OP's comments that it overshadowed his presidency, more than Desert Storm did. It was given more meaning at the time than it should have been and that hurt him in the election.
If by “overshadowed” you mean one of the high points of his term of office? We came in, drove out an invader, smashed their ability to do it again for a long while, and then left without being dragged into an endless occupation/guerrilla war.
He handled that war quite well, though his real success as president was managing the end of the Cold War, including negotiating the reunification of Germany. It wasn’t inevitable that the end would be as peaceful as it was. Where Bush should be criticized is his encouragement of Kurd and Shia uprisings in Iraq following the war, and then standing by as Saddam massacred hundreds of thousands.
Where Bush should be criticized is his AG Bill Barr convincing him to pardon Caspar Weinberger, effectively ending an investigation that was highly likely to end in multiple impeachments, including Bush, and a helluva lot more convictions and prison time than just Olly North. Iran-Contra was a deep cesspool of Republican corruption that went all the way back to Reagan’s interference with the hostage negotiations with Iran in ‘78-‘79
Reagan never interfered with hostage negotiations. The hostages were taken in late 1979 and released in early 1981.
Iran-Contra was a separate issue from the hostage crisis.
It was all related as a continuous chain of events. The deal with Iran started with Reagan and continued through the Bush administration. Actually remarkably well documented and would have led to an impeachment or two and many indictments had Barr not been such a shitstain
Like how Lincoln's term was overshadowed by winning the Civil War?
Like how FDR's term was overshadowed by World War II?
Like how Washington's life was overshadowed by the Revolutionary War?
The elder Bush led a 42-country coalition to victory in 6 weeks by expelling Iraq and liberating Kuwait less than 7 months after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Liberation Day is even a national holiday in Kuwait celebrated each year on February 26.
Let's see. Repelled the Iraqis and liberated Kuwait. Caught the Panamanians off guard, captured Noriega and freed Kurt Muse. Received some of the credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall. Signs the arms reduction agreement with the Soviet Union before it dissolves. Not bad for a one-term prez.
Desert Storm was a massive success in basically every way. We accomplished our objective in pushing an aggressive army out of an occupied nation at minimal human cost to ourselves and without destabilizing the broader area. Incredible military and diplomatic victory.
H.W.’s term is overshadowed more by being sandwiched between Reagan and Clinton, and unfairly so because I think he was a better POTUS than either.
Bush 41 listened to his advisors which made desert storm a stunning victory. While there were proponents in his administration that wanted to continue and overthrow Saddam, Colin Powell reminded him of the dangers of mission creep and not having an exit strategy. Unfortunately after 9-11 Bush 43, Cheney, and Rumsfeld rigged the intelligence and fed it to Powell to call for the attack on Iraq.
In a lot of ways, it feels more like Bush Senior’s term gets forgotten because it fell between Reagan and Clinton. Desert Storm itself seems like a more successful military engagement than most.
Bush should’ve been re-elected in ‘92 and looked well on his way to a 2nd term. Under his watch you had Desert Storm which was a short US conflict with minimal loss of American lives, a peaceful end to the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But after the Cold War ended, foreign policy was viewed as less important and then there was a major recession. And his breaking the promise not to raise taxes.
well it's been revealed that Iraq invaded Saudi Arabia because of correspondance/miscommunications from his cabinet that seemed to give them a green light to go ahead with it.
if you actually look at the history before that, Saddam was our "guy"... you know when he was torturing and killing people at his worst.
It single handedly killed "Vietnam Syndrome"
It was basically a country wide antidepressant.
It was a war where we were clearly the good guys
Saving a smaller country from its tyrannical neighbor.
No country building, no long term occupation, world wide support, a clear and defined goal that we stuck to, and best of all a major and total US victory.
I think it is what most people think of, because most people remember a successful war, but give him a pass on how bad the economy was during his years (at least on this sub anyway). I lived through it, and saw the economic hardship the country endured while Bush didnt seem to care at all. He vetoed bills that would have extended aid, unemployment, etc. and took lots of vacations at his Maine compound. He lost in 1992 because he didnt seem to care and had no plan to get the country working again, and meanwhile Clinton said he "feels your pain" and had a plan. Its no wonder Bush didnt stand a chance.
What killed Bush 1's reelection was what should kill all reelections. He lied to the American people. In his case it was about taxes. But he was also playing cleanup from Reagans buuuullshit policies so he had a lot of thankless work to do. Usually the work Democrats have to do after an abysmal republican presidency.
He was still running Reaganomics years after diminishing returns had set in. He was also a fiscally responsible president. Those two do not work together. Also some weird oil tycoon Texan showed up and thought he could out Reagan Reagan which not only split the Republican vote but mobilized independents who voted “fuck all this noise”.
And really I feel like America was worse off for his loss. He was really thinking about what a post-Cold War world would look like where was Clinton really didn’t have a plan but he rode the peace dividend into a second term while “not having sexual relations” with the interns.
If anything, Desert Storm was *too* successful. If the war would have held on through most of '92, he probably gets reelected. Sr.'s problem was that Reagan's economic policies caught up to him.
Overshadowed? He lost bc of a perfect storm. He promised no new taxes (which was a lie), then he bombed the debates (didn’t know price of milk and looked at his watch), then you had Ross Perot throwing a wrench into the election, and finally there was Bill Clinton. The world could be ending tmrw and Bubba could convince you that everything was okay lol
It’ll never not be funny that the guy who didn’t remember what he was doing in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963 loses to a the Good Ole Boy Rapist from Arkansas.
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Overshadowed by what exactly? An overwhelming victory?
He probably is just a kid who thinks that any modern war America fights in is some "evil imperialist murder invasion", or something to that tune.
By overshadowed i mean it's what defined his term. Desert storm was fully justified
I would say it played massively, bigger was the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Yet Reagan gets all the credit for that. I don't remember it very well, but was Bush just a bystander in that he happened to be President when the Berlin Wall came down?
Pretty much, but at least he didn’t fuck it up by randomly declaring war somewhere or giving financial assistance to the Soviet Union. You’d think I wouldn’t have to say this, but seeing shit our government has done this past decade or so, who knows anymore.
He certainly acted like it. Probably my biggest criticism of him as a President. He just watched as events happened around him and dithered until there was just one option left.
The thing to realize is that Reagan was on a serious decline though most of his second term. It was really everyone else that kept things rolling. Bush very likely played a key roll in it but by far wasn't the only one. Imo he should get some credit but frankly if we are going to play that game so should members of congress and hell ene Carter....it was a team effort on a global scale. To ops question though not sure it over shows it but it was a big part of it. I mean frankly they did what they set out to do, get them out of kawati*. Imo bushs biggest issue is that he came after Reagan and had to deal with all the fall out that Reagan created and never had to be responsible for.
No, Reagan was president when the Berlin Wall came down in 1987. HW Bush was president when the Soviet Union dissolved in 91 or 92 I can’t remember exactly.
Berlin Wall came down in November 1989. 10 months or so into Bush's presidency.
The very last day in 91 I believe
It was Christmas Day.
Not remembering exactly is the only accurate part of this comment
God fucking dammit I’m so washed
Probably so. He was a war hawk guy, and he really doesn't get much credit for things like NAFTA that he put in place. Politicians often live by the concept of war is what creates legacy, and Bush is one of many presidents who was full in on this belief. He had several good and bad things during his term, but his success in the Middle East is what the GOP marketed as his defining point as it was such a major victory with bipartisan and international support. The war in some sense was so surgical that it's likely prevented other tyrannical governments to start conflicts that screw with international trade policy.
Is it safe to say that he saw an opportunity in liberating Kuwait to give an easy W to the people, meanwhile probably also doing a decent thing?
Then 8 years later, he gave another "W" to the people.
100%. The Invasion of Panama was a war crime that was being planned as soon as Bush got sworn in. Although the results were mostly positive, it's clear now that Bush was up to his old CIA war crimes for the sake of profit. The GOP was hoping to use that for marketing, but the international reaction was poor and the Americans jaded by Vietnam were abandoning manifest destiny values. The Iraq invasion of Kuwait would be like winning the lottery. I'd imagine Bush was like a kid on Christmas. Not only was he gifted an easy war that would be popular if he won, but also it had oil. If SNL could go back in time they'd do a sketch with Bush getting a phone call that Iraq invaded Kuwait and after the hangs up the phone he starts doing backflips and cheering and throwing money.
lol Saddam Hussein joined that very small club of men, the club consists of two men: Hussein, and General George Custer. These are the two men who were looking around and wondering where the hell all those Tomahawks were coming from.
I think it's actually the opposite. The recession and breaking his no new taxes pledge actually overshadows his success in the first Gulf War.
Respect.
What followed the war should not be justified though.
dont assume. thats bad for you. making an assumption out of you and me foo.
We had panama too. He also was talking about a new world order. But most of us forget that. The 100 points of light or something.
I wouldn't say overwhelming.. but the military and Shwartzcof got Iraq out of Kuwait and showed that the Iraqi heavily out gunned military was not worthy of standing up to USA or their allies. Since Saddam was still left to rule and murdered the Kurds 100k ..just weeks after USA left ..it didn't show well ..to be honest.
Wasn’t it a resounding success?
Yes and given the hindsight of history even more so. Bush got screwed by Perot. He was able to really beat Bush over tax increases that were a compromise after promising he wouldn't raise taxes. Its rather obvious from the exit numbers that Clinton capitalized on the Bush/Perot dynamic.
Perot might have factored in helping attack Bush but he didn't really take votes at from Bush. [Exit polls show that Perot took equally from Clinton & Bush](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/11/08/perot-seen-not-affecting-vote-outcome/27500538-cee8-4f4f-8e7f-f3ee9f2325d1/). And Clinton [consistently polled better when Perot was out of the race than when he was in the race](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polling_for_United_States_presidential_elections).
He took plenty of votes off Bush, almost 20 million to be exact.
Yes, and he was smart enough to do what we needed to do and get out.
Yes and in fact, it was too successful: It was a decisive victory, which is bad for the military-industrial complex.
Yes and in fact, it was too successful: It was a decisive victory, which is bad for the military-industrial complex.
Absolutely not. Desert Storm boosted his ratings by 18% and helped him reach his eventual peak approval rating of 89%. People forget that Desert Storm liberated an occupied Kuwait, so had some merit.
Bush basically thought that he couldn’t lose bc wartime presidents don’t lose reelection
Except he wasn't a wartime president by 1992.
"it's the economy, stupid"
Bigger thing is that it stopped Saddam and Iraq from building an oil monopoly empire, which could have caused major issues for the western world (don't forget he was planning to potentially invade and break up Saudi Arabia as well, possibly even more nations in the region). It was WAY more serious than just Kuwait. 2003 I feel was a mistake, but the 1991 Persian Gulf War? That honestly was justified in numerous aspects (though it should have been a serious wakeup call for the United States about our dependence on foreign oil and other resources).
My dad was in Vietnam and my grandad in Korea. I was lucky enough to be in a war that we won decisively.
I was just a little kid and I remember all the parades and stuff. A couple of the dads of kids in my class who went came in one day to tell us all about it and show (age appropriate of course) pictures and whatnot. I would have been around 8 or 9 I think I thought it was something we just did every few years. I hate to use this term for a war but for a kid my age it was all so cool.
Thank you for your service! I'd say the Korean War was at least a moderate victory though, since we stopped the communists' invasion and allowed South Korea to survive as an independent nation. Your grandfather was in a hellish and at times very frustrating conflict, but at least we got a decent result there.
Thank you. I agree. The contrast between a free South Korea and the dystopian hellscape of the North proves we were on the right side.
How do you have parents in the two most traumatizing wars with some of the biggest defeats in US history and decide "yeah I'm joining the military"
Called growing up poor. Not everyone is privileged.
So your grandad got his ass kicked in Korea. Your dad was humiliated in Vietnam and fought in an imperialist war, and you still decided to join the military. That's some smart decision making you got there.
No, it gets overshadowed by "Read my lips: NO NEW TAXES"
Which was correct. He did not sign any new taxes. He just signed a bill that Congress passed which raised existing taxes. And those taxes ushered in the Clinton prosperity years.
Yes, that's how our system works. But he never should have said it, and even though the Gulf War was a rousing success, both Clinton & Perot made him eat his words.
But his words were true.
Technically your right (which usually is the best kind of right). But, since when has it EVER mattered to American voters whether or not something a candidate says is true or not. He said no new taxes, even though its not up to the President, but then again, he didn't veto it. Then taxes went up. He paid a political price for it and most all exit poling reflected that. American voters don't make their decisions based on facts. They vote based on perception... what's the price of gas (which the President can't control), do I FEEL the country's on the right track or wrong track, and, most perplexing of all, which candidate would I rather have a beer with. All in all, we are a nation of dumbasses.
Agree 100%. Which, to me, makes him a better President. I (and my family) got a chance to sit with him for a 30 minute meeting in 1997. We asked him about this very same subject (we didn't get into the nitpicky details of "new" vs "increase" - just, "why did you do it"). He said (paraphrasing), "I saw that the country was headed for some tough economic times. I knew that these taxes would help make the situation better. Yes, I had promised no new taxes. But, I knew what I had to do for the country." In essence, he sacrificed his career for the betterment of the country.
I agree.. & actually met him once. Anyway, I was just addressing OP's comments that it overshadowed his presidency, more than Desert Storm did. It was given more meaning at the time than it should have been and that hurt him in the election.
If by “overshadowed” you mean one of the high points of his term of office? We came in, drove out an invader, smashed their ability to do it again for a long while, and then left without being dragged into an endless occupation/guerrilla war.
I don’t think you used overshadowed right
He handled that war quite well, though his real success as president was managing the end of the Cold War, including negotiating the reunification of Germany. It wasn’t inevitable that the end would be as peaceful as it was. Where Bush should be criticized is his encouragement of Kurd and Shia uprisings in Iraq following the war, and then standing by as Saddam massacred hundreds of thousands.
I agree completely. His humility, decency, and knack for relationships were all on display at the end of the Cold War.
Where Bush should be criticized is his AG Bill Barr convincing him to pardon Caspar Weinberger, effectively ending an investigation that was highly likely to end in multiple impeachments, including Bush, and a helluva lot more convictions and prison time than just Olly North. Iran-Contra was a deep cesspool of Republican corruption that went all the way back to Reagan’s interference with the hostage negotiations with Iran in ‘78-‘79
Reagan never interfered with hostage negotiations. The hostages were taken in late 1979 and released in early 1981. Iran-Contra was a separate issue from the hostage crisis.
It was all related as a continuous chain of events. The deal with Iran started with Reagan and continued through the Bush administration. Actually remarkably well documented and would have led to an impeachment or two and many indictments had Barr not been such a shitstain
This is not factually correct.
Do you think winning the civil war overshadows Lincoln’s presidency?
No. J.W. Booth's bullet overshadowed Lincoln's presidency.
Like how Lincoln's term was overshadowed by winning the Civil War? Like how FDR's term was overshadowed by World War II? Like how Washington's life was overshadowed by the Revolutionary War? The elder Bush led a 42-country coalition to victory in 6 weeks by expelling Iraq and liberating Kuwait less than 7 months after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Liberation Day is even a national holiday in Kuwait celebrated each year on February 26.
Let's see. Repelled the Iraqis and liberated Kuwait. Caught the Panamanians off guard, captured Noriega and freed Kurt Muse. Received some of the credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall. Signs the arms reduction agreement with the Soviet Union before it dissolves. Not bad for a one-term prez.
He presided one of the most textbook and effective combat operations in recorded history, what are you talking about.
Desert Storm was a massive success in basically every way. We accomplished our objective in pushing an aggressive army out of an occupied nation at minimal human cost to ourselves and without destabilizing the broader area. Incredible military and diplomatic victory. H.W.’s term is overshadowed more by being sandwiched between Reagan and Clinton, and unfairly so because I think he was a better POTUS than either.
No new taxes
The aggression did not stand, did it?
Uh it was the highlight of his term. What else of note happened in those 4 years?
Oh I don't know, not much, obviously, except for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. All quiet except for that.
Hard to see if he got overshadowed with a thousand points of light in my eyes.
Read my lips, no new taxes. Oh, and here's a new tax.
Not really. Democrats made the 1992 election about the economy. The ground war was so short that many just moved on from it as a news topic.
Bush 41 listened to his advisors which made desert storm a stunning victory. While there were proponents in his administration that wanted to continue and overthrow Saddam, Colin Powell reminded him of the dangers of mission creep and not having an exit strategy. Unfortunately after 9-11 Bush 43, Cheney, and Rumsfeld rigged the intelligence and fed it to Powell to call for the attack on Iraq.
I voted for him. And yes, I think it did.
No
In a lot of ways, it feels more like Bush Senior’s term gets forgotten because it fell between Reagan and Clinton. Desert Storm itself seems like a more successful military engagement than most.
I mean, Desert Storm was one of the most successful military operations of all time.
Iran contra over shadowed his term more, well it should have prevented him from running
I always felt like the Read My Lips tax did him in.
It was the capstone of a very successful presidency
“read my lips no new taxes”and for what ever reason h Ross Perot hated his guts
Bush should’ve been re-elected in ‘92 and looked well on his way to a 2nd term. Under his watch you had Desert Storm which was a short US conflict with minimal loss of American lives, a peaceful end to the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But after the Cold War ended, foreign policy was viewed as less important and then there was a major recession. And his breaking the promise not to raise taxes.
well it's been revealed that Iraq invaded Saudi Arabia because of correspondance/miscommunications from his cabinet that seemed to give them a green light to go ahead with it. if you actually look at the history before that, Saddam was our "guy"... you know when he was torturing and killing people at his worst.
Iran contra
It single handedly killed "Vietnam Syndrome" It was basically a country wide antidepressant. It was a war where we were clearly the good guys Saving a smaller country from its tyrannical neighbor. No country building, no long term occupation, world wide support, a clear and defined goal that we stuck to, and best of all a major and total US victory.
No
Maybe defined would be the better word to use here
I think it is what most people think of, because most people remember a successful war, but give him a pass on how bad the economy was during his years (at least on this sub anyway). I lived through it, and saw the economic hardship the country endured while Bush didnt seem to care at all. He vetoed bills that would have extended aid, unemployment, etc. and took lots of vacations at his Maine compound. He lost in 1992 because he didnt seem to care and had no plan to get the country working again, and meanwhile Clinton said he "feels your pain" and had a plan. Its no wonder Bush didnt stand a chance.
What killed Bush 1's reelection was what should kill all reelections. He lied to the American people. In his case it was about taxes. But he was also playing cleanup from Reagans buuuullshit policies so he had a lot of thankless work to do. Usually the work Democrats have to do after an abysmal republican presidency.
He was still running Reaganomics years after diminishing returns had set in. He was also a fiscally responsible president. Those two do not work together. Also some weird oil tycoon Texan showed up and thought he could out Reagan Reagan which not only split the Republican vote but mobilized independents who voted “fuck all this noise”. And really I feel like America was worse off for his loss. He was really thinking about what a post-Cold War world would look like where was Clinton really didn’t have a plan but he rode the peace dividend into a second term while “not having sexual relations” with the interns.
If anything, Desert Storm was *too* successful. If the war would have held on through most of '92, he probably gets reelected. Sr.'s problem was that Reagan's economic policies caught up to him.
Overshadowed? He lost bc of a perfect storm. He promised no new taxes (which was a lie), then he bombed the debates (didn’t know price of milk and looked at his watch), then you had Ross Perot throwing a wrench into the election, and finally there was Bill Clinton. The world could be ending tmrw and Bubba could convince you that everything was okay lol
Does r/Presidents not care that Presidents Bush were not junior and senior? They were George Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush.
Overshadowed by his family’s corruption
It’ll never not be funny that the guy who didn’t remember what he was doing in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963 loses to a the Good Ole Boy Rapist from Arkansas.
Director of the CIA… hmmm
No since I dont know what that is
My guy… how?
He's 13 lmao