George W. Bush

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is a Republican United States politician. He was the country's 43rd president from 2001 to 2009, and previously the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. He is also a businessman, having graduated from Harvard Business School in 1975, and worked in the oil industry. He is a member of the Bush family, an American dynasty prominent in politics, news, sports, entertainment, and business.

At the beginning of his presidency his approval rating was around half, then shot up to around 90% after the September 11 attacks; an all-time high for any president, though by the end of his second term it degraded to one of the lowest approval ratings ever, at around 30%. This gradual decline reflects the effects of his terrible presidency. His negatives include:

• The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which sought to close the gap between rich and poor students but ended up mostly over-emphasizing standardized testing as well as test scores. Most teachers disliked this law, and bipartisan criticism had accumulated to the point where it ended up being replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015.
• The AUMF and NDAA of 2001, which allowed the detaining of individuals, even American citizens, without warrant, charge, or due process.
• The PATRIOT Act
• Having his presidency be characterized by the dominance of his vice president, Dick Cheney, an exceptionally power-hungry businessman who had an aggressively hawkish stance on things like foreign interventions, torture, and surveillance. In his business career, he is perhaps the best example of the "revolving door" politics that shuffles businessmen into government and then back again in order to smoothly serve the will of capitalists.
• Overseeing imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• His neglectful response to Hurricane Katrina
• Responding to the Great Financial Crisis with stark neoliberalism, including continuous promotion of deregulation while opposing attempts at regulation, such as that of SEC head William Donaldson.
• Dramatically expanding the surveillance state, such as through the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA (which has been widely criticized for not actually improving airport security that much).

In 2010 at a Korean War prayer meeting in Seoul, he said "communism had resulted in dire poverty, mass starvation and brutal suppression", attributing the growth of South Korea to capitalism while exaggerating the hardship of North Koreans — in line with his view that North Korea is part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and Iraq.

The frequent errors he made when speaking came to be known as Bushisms.

See also

• Donald Trump
• Barack Obama