Bush's Legacy

[Exsubmariner]

Hi all,
It may be a bit too early to be talking about it, but I have been thinking about the impact that Bush 43, whom I lovingly think of as schrub, is going to have on the Presidents, the country, foriegn policy, and the general state of the world after him. The meandering thoughts I present here are taken from a number of sources and I in no way claim to think anything original, but I would like to air my conjectures and see what people here think.

Firstly, since Schrub is so polarizing, I don't think that there is going to be a viable conservative candidate after him who promises to carry on his doctrine. While a succeeding President may echo doctrine in regards to the Middle East and the Iraq situation, I don't believe anyone will continue to try outspending Democrats when it comes to social programs. The prescription drug plan the pharmaceutical doners to the Bush camp managed to get is probably going to be it for a while in terms of social programs. I can imagine future political candidates promoting true fiscal conservatism, much in the tradition of Reagan, not Schrub.

I think the cheque on invading other countries in the Middle East is cashed. I don't believe putting soldiers on the groud is ever going to be a viable option again, politically speaking, for future Presidents. I can forsee extensive air campaigning as a viable option for military action, but invading a country and trying to put in a Democratic Government has been shown to be too expensive. Perhaps also, knowing this will lead future Presidents to emphasize intelligence policy and focus on field agents, as in the Cold War, as primary tools of foriegn policy. This will doubltess lead to more drugs and arms scandels and entrench the political process in the country in ever more vehemate prosecutions, finger pointing, and conspiracy mongering.

Also, I can see foriegn policy vascillating enourmously depending on which party is elected. The only thing I can see this serving to do is to make regions of the world more and more unstable with regard to US business and national interests. I can envision dramatic reversals on policies destablizing foriegn affairs. This will perhaps foment an isolationist movement within the country.

In short, I don't think the US is in a good way as far as the rest of the world is concerned. It may not have begun with Bush, he may have inherited it from as far back as Reagan, but I don't think his handling of his office has left the optimal amount of strategies open for future Presidents. I see things being much worse before they get better.

The next three years are going to be interesting.

Thoughts/Opinions/Discussions?