The Second Term Anti-Role Model: Bush

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush continues to pay for his second term.

The exit polls in last week's U.S. presidential election found that voters, by 53 to 38 percent, thought Mr. Bush was more responsible for the current economic difficulties than President Barack Obama.

Mr. Bush was a pariah on the campaign trail this year. He didn't appear at the Republican's convention in Tampa, Florida and wasn't even mentioned there in speeches by the nominee, Mitt Romney, the vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, or the keynote speaker, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. About the only convention attention Mr. Bush received was from the Democrats, when his predecessor, Bill Clinton, offered mild praise for his support for AIDS funding in Africa.

In my latest column, I point out the many parallels between the ways Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama won their second terms, and I ask: “Can Obama Avoid Bush's 2nd-Term Errors?” The long-lasting impact of those err ors were manifest in this campaign.

Mr. Romney went out of his way to stress how different he is from George W. Bush, although their policies on tax cuts and deregulation seemed almost identical.

The former Republican president's problems date back to the first year after his 2004 re-election. Miscalculating, the White House decided to focus on an overhaul of Social Security, without gathering any Democratic support. The proposal went
nowhere and the political damage was considerable.

He then rushed back to Washington to sign legislation allowing the federal government to prevent a Florida man from removing the feeding tubes of his wife, who was in a persistent vegetative state. Ultimately, that too was thwarted and an autopsy showed she was severely brain damaged.

Finally, when hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Mr. Bush was AWOL.

Mr. Bush might take some solace from President Harry Truman, who left office in 1953 even more unpo pular than Mr. Bush is. Today, Mr. Truman is considered one of the great presidents. Then again, there's the Republican Herbert Hoover who left office in 1933. More than three decades later, Democrats are still successfully running against his polices.