Robert Maguire's Library tagged bush →  View Popular

Just a reminder. December 2006:

I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really
focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new
deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances
that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe.

My italics. Today:

“I want our president and this administration to listen to the advisers
who they hired. McChrystal, for one, back in March, telling
the president, 'Here's what we're going to need there' and then ramping
up that advice lately, saying, 'Mr. President, here's what we need in
Afghanistan to win, to make sure that those terror cells don't grow, so
that those terrorists don't come back over to the homeland in America,
on our soil, and kill innocent Americans.'”

The recession made deficit cutting in the here and now imprudent in his first year; but now addressing the long-term debt is itself necessary for stabilizing the economy - and reassuring independent voters that he, unlike his predecessor, gives a damn about fiscal health. Well: the good news is that he's going to do exactly that:

President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.

He forced the massive and truly crippling Medicare prescriptions drug benefit through the Congress, backed two hugely expensive wars, refused to raise any taxes, and presided over an unprecedented rise in domestic discretionary spending. He took a surplus and gave us back a recession and a trillion dollar deficit. He believed that the executive branch had total authority to ignore the laws on torture, and possessed war-powers within the United States with respect to American citizens captured without due process.

But he is now intent on restraining "runaway spending and government expansion."

the internals show that a majority of southerners thinks Obama has done a better job than native son Bush:

Fifty-seven percent say Obama has been a better president than George W. Bush; only a third say Bush’s track record was better.

“Compared to Obama, Bush does fairly well among southerners and rural voters. But even in those categories, a majority still says Obama has done a better job than Bush,” says Holland.