WHAT WILL BE THE BUSH LEGACY?

Closing The Books On Bush's Legacy

While still in office, President Bush and his allies used to get frustrated when reporters would ask them to speculate on what the administration's legacy would be -- especially in light of the President's abysmal poll numbers at the end of his term. They would defensively argue that Bush's true greatness would emerge over time. "I'll be dead when they get it right," Bush reportedly remarked in 2006. Adviser Karl Rove was convinced that his boss would be "viewed as a far-sighted leader who confronted the key test of the 21st century." Well, they were right in one respect: a fuller picture of the Bush administration's effect is now emerging. But they were sorely mistaken in believing that it would vindicate the 43rd president. Last week, the Census Bureau released its 2008 annual report on the income, poverty, and health insurance in the United States. As the National Journal's Ronald Brownstein wrote, the Census report "closes the books" on Bush's economic record -- and it's not one that Republicans will be boasting about. "On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms," noted Brownstein. "While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked."

LOSS OF INCOME: "I think when people take a look back at this moment in our economic history, they'll recognize tax cuts work," Bush boldly predicted in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in March 2008. "They have made a difference." They have indeed made a difference, but it's not a good one. Last year, Americans' median household income dropped 3.6 percent to $50,303 -- the sharpest drop since the government began keeping records in 1947, and the lowest dollar level since 1997. When Clinton left office, the median income was 4.2 percent higher than it was when Bush stepped down eight years later. Bush also has the "dubious distinction" of being the only recent president to "preside over an income decline through two presidential terms," according to Economic Policy Institute President Lawrence Mishel. "[T]he bleak economic results from Bush's two terms, tarnish, to put it mildly, the idea that tax cuts represent an economic silver bullet," concluded Brownstein. Americans were able to see the effects of Bush's sordid legacy long before the President was; toward the end of his term, one poll found that zero percent of Americans believed that the economy was improving, and only 17 percent approved of how he was handling the economy. There's increasing evidence that Bush didn't understand the complexities of the economy. A new book by former speechwriter Matt Latimer reveals that Bush advisers were more interested in "mapping out an ambitious schedule of 'legacy speeches'" for the President than providing policy solutions. Even when the President was selling his $700-billion bailout proposal to the public, he didn't fully comprehend what he was talking about. For nearly a year after the economic downturn started, Bush administration officials continued to publicly state that there was no recession.

RISE IN POVERTY: When the extent of the recession did become clear at the end of Bush's term, the President was convinced that it wasn't his fault. Rove still believes that the administration bears "no responsibility" for the deficit, and Vice President Cheney said in January that the financial crisis had developed only "over the last six months." Bush similarly had no understanding of what most Americans were going through, embodied in his infamous statement to a woman who had to work three jobs to get by: "You work three jobs? Uniquely American, isn't it? That is fantastic." Under Clinton, the number of American in poverty dropped 16.9 percent; it increased 26.1 percent under Bush. Similarly, the number of children in poverty declined 24.2 percent under Clinton and jumped 21.4 percent under Bush. The 2008 poverty rate was at an 11-year high of 13.2 percent, with 39.8 million people in poverty (including 14 million children). The Bush years saw an additional 8.3 million people fall below the poverty line. As The Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo noted, "This [Census] report does not take into account the hemorrhaging of jobs that occurred in early 2009, when more than 700,000 jobs were disappearing each month, so these numbers are likely to rise even higher. And they would be headed higher still if it were not for the economic stimulus package that was passed in February." A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that two-thirds of Americans blame Bush -- not President Obama -- for the nation's current economic problems.

RISE IN THE UNINSURED: While Obama has made reducing health care costs and insuring more Americans a focus of his presidency, Bush's health care policies were mostly spending cuts and the advancement of a right-wing ideology. Bush didn't veto many bills during his presidency, but he did decide that expanding health insurance (SCHIP) for children was offensive enough to warrant one. Not surprisingly, by the time Bush left office, the number of uninsured Americans had grown to more than 46.3 million, an increase of 20.6 percent from when Clinton stepped down. The number of uninsured Americans increased by 7.3 million over the eight years of the Bush administration. Despite right-wing claims that public health programs are "inefficient rationed care" and America doesn't need health care reform, number of Americans with individual and employer-sponsored private coverage decreased under Bush, while enrollments for Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP grew. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called the new Census report "another call to action for change in our health insurance system," adding, "In a nation where more than 46 million people go without health insurance -- and the number of uninsured rises by the day -- reform is no longer just an overdue priority, it's an economic and moral necessity."

--americanprogressaction.org