Rare News Desk
In 2008, Senator Barack Obama ran as the candidate who opposed the Bush agenda and would get us out of Iraq. Nearly six years after winning the presidency, it’s clear that “hope and change” has often meant “more of the same.”
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Just last month, Obama continued to show the world that he didn’t deserve the Nobel Peace Prize given to him in 2009, engaging in renewed conflict in Iraq. In addition to continuing to bomb nations that Bush led us into — such as Iraq and Afghanistan — Obama has launched attacks on several other nations, including an attempt at regime change in Libya.
And when it comes to listening to advisors about Iraq, neither president has done a satisfactory job. Bush took four years to send in enough troops, and likewise Obama ignored his advisors on how to get of Iraq — before choosing to ignore them yet again when he went back in this month.
Both presidents have tried the personal touch with Vladimir Putin. Bush said he could “get a sense of [Putin’s] soul” early in his presidency, and Obama said he would do Putin’s bidding on missile defense after he won re-election. Likewise, Russian aggression in 2008 and 2013 was met with weak responses.
When it comes to expanding government, Bush and Obama have been bosom buddies. Bill Clinton’s statement that “the era of big government is over” was refuted by Bush’s “compassionate conservatism,” which included expanding education with No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, and TARP. Likewise, the Obama administration enacted the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank banking legislation, and has expanded unemployment benefits. The Obama DOJ has also been reluctant to throw banking executives in jail, citing concerns to the economy. This can be viewed as the next logical step after the Bush administration bailed the executives out of bankruptcy.
Spending the public treasure has been a particular skill of Obama’s, especially with the 2009 and 2010 stimuli packages — which are successors of Bush’s 2008 stimulus. Likewise, Bush presided over increasing deficits, and Obama took them to the next level. And with the Federal Reserve, Obama kept Bush’s Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, who implemented low interest rate policies, quantitative easing, and bailout loans.
In 2007, it was Bush who wanted a liberalized immigration policy, something he worked with Democratic and Republican senators to achieve. In 2013, it was Obama who worked with both parties on a bill that would have had similar effects.
While Obama has rightly been criticized for incompetence at the Veterans Administration, many of those critics forget that it was Bush who oversaw terrible care at Walter Reed Medical Center. And the larger VA scandal that has flourished under Obama was an issue the current president promised to change during his first campaign — meaning that it was alive and well under Bush.
And both presidents believe spying on the American people is just fine.
Are there differences between Bush and his successor? Absolutely. Bush had dozens of allies going into Iraq; Obama has a small handful, which matches the scant few he had for our attack on Libya. Obama has expanded the use of federal tax dollars for abortion, whereas Bush made small steps in the opposite direction. Bush tried to empower the American people with his Social Security reform effort, whereas Obama has taken power away via the Affordable Care Act. And it was Obama who began assassinating American citizens, highlighting his tendency to take what we thought were extremes under Bush and bring them even further.
It’s not just the two presidents who have a lot in common. Their respective supporters have often been nothing but hypocritical, with conservatives calling the current commander-in-chief weak, despite more wars and more drone bombings, and liberals refusing to take up the anti-war torch that they lit so brightly during Bush’s time in office. And members of Congress have been just as bad, with Democrats supporting Obama’s Patriot Act renewal in 2010 and Republicans who voted for the Bush spending suddenly deciding fiscal conservatism is cool under Obama.
So, no. Unlike many conservatives, I do not miss Bush. In fact, in many respects, it’s like he never left.
