Setting the Record Straight on George W. Bush

George Bush did plenty wrong... but he also did some things that were VERY GOOD.  What amazes me is the ability to revise history before the man could even get back to Crawford, Texas.  

I am very disappointed with his willingness to go along with the democrats on a number of issues, not the least of which was the move towards bailouts and an agenda reminiscent of Hoover turning the country over to FDR (and in this case Obama).  The parallels are just too obvious to ignore. Nevertheless... Let's set the record straight...

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Ed Gillespie wrote an article on RealClearPolitics at the end of last year, December 28, 2008.  Here are his points of fact:

Myth 1: The last eight years were awful for most Americans economically and President Bush's deregulatory policies caused the current financial crisis.
*The U.S. experienced its longest run of uninterrupted job growth - 52 straight months, with 8.3 
million jobs created during the Bush Administration
This reflected six consecutive years of economic growth from the Fourth Quarter of 2001 
until the Fourth Quarter of 2007.
*From 2000 to 2007, real GDP grew by more than 17 percent, a remarkable gain of nearly 2.1 
trillion dollars.
In the same period, real after-tax income per capita increased by more than 11 percent, 
and there was a 4.7 percent increase in the number of new businesses formed.
*The current crisis: The President and his economic team have taken unprecedented actions to 
stabilize the financial sector and avert a collapse.
In April 2001, three months after taking office, the President warned in his first budget 
that the size of the two GSEs were a "potential problem" that "could cause strong 
repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic 
activity." In 2003, the Administration began calling for a new GSE regulator, and over the 
next five years, the Administration continued to call for GSE reform only to be accused by 
Democrats in Congress of creating artificial fears and advocating for ill-advised proposals.

Myth 2: President Bush's tax cuts only benefitted the wealthy and were paid for by sacrificing investments in health care and education.
*There are not 116 million "wealthy Americans," but that's how many taxpayers benefited from 
the President's tax relief.
The across-the-board tax cuts provided tax relief to every American who pays income 
taxes, created a new bottom 10 percent bracket rate, doubled the child tax credit to 
$1,000, and actually increased the share of the Federal income tax burden paid by the top 
10 percent of individual earners from 67 percent in 2000 to 70 percent in 2005. 
Furthermore, this Administration removed 13 million low-income earners from the income 
tax rolls completely.
*President Bush provided more than 40 million Americans with better access to prescription drugs 
by creating the market-based Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit.
And it is one of the rare government programs that actually costs less than expected.
Projected overall program spending between 2004 and 2013 is approximately $240 billion 
lower, nearly 38 percent, than originally estimated, thanks to the market-oriented 
principles included at President Bush's insistence.
*Federal spending on education has increased nearly 40 percent under President Bush.
*Pell Grant funding nearly doubled during the Administration, which is expected to help more than 
5.5 million students attend college in the 2008-09 school year, 1.2 million more students than 
were assisted by Pell Grants in the 2001-02 school year.

Myth 3 and 4: The President's "go it alone" foreign policy ruined America's standing in the world and The war in Iraq caused us to "take our eye off the ball" in Afghanistan and with al Qaeda.
*The United States acted with a multilateral coalition of partner nations to remove Saddam 
Hussein from power in Iraq after he failed to comply with the will of the international 
community, including numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
*In Afghanistan, approximately forty countries are currently deployed with American forces, 
including every one of our NATO allies.
*The President also created a worldwide coalition of more than 90 nations to combat terrorist 
networks by sharing information, drying up their financing, and bringing their leaders to justice.
Furthermore, the Administration established the Proliferation Security Initiative, which now 
includes more than 90 nations.
*The President successfully pushed for expanding NATO membership, generated international 
pressure on Iran to stop it from developing nuclear weapons, and organized the Six-Party 
Talks, which have resulted in North Korea committing to give up its nuclear weapons and 
abandon its nuclear programs.
*The United States has provided nearly $32 billion for security, political, and economic 
development assistance and the international community has provided more than $55 billion to 
Afghanistan since 2001.

Myth 5: This Administration has been bad for the environment and ignored the problem of global warming.
*From 2001 to 2007, air pollution decreased by 12 percent, and fine particulate matter pollution 
is down 17 percent since 2001. Ethanol production quadrupled from 1.6 billion gallons in 2000 to 
6.5 billion gallons in 2007, wind energy production has increased by more than 400 percent, 
and solar energy capacity has doubled. In 2007, solar installations increased more than 32 
percent and the U.S. produced 96 percent more biodiesel (490 million gallons) than in 2006. The 
Administration also provided nearly $18 billion to research, develop, and promote alternative 
and more efficient energy technologies such as biofuels, solar, wind, clean coal, nuclear, and 
hydrogen.
*This Administration has improved and protected the health of more than 27 million acres of 
Federal forest and grasslands, protected, restored, and improved more than three million acres 
of wetlands, and established the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the world's 
largest fully protected marine conservation area (nearly 140,000 square miles).
*This administration has invested more than $44 billion in climate change-related programs.

And one last fact: Our homeland has not suffered another terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. That, too, is part of the real Bush record.