President Bush's Approval Ratings

I wanted a quick word about President Bush's approval ratings. First, let me say that he isn't the only president to experience such terrible numbers. According to u-s-history.com, "Truman's approval ratings dropped to 23 percent by 1951, with the public unhappy with the war in Korea, doubts about Communist subversion, and the "loss of China" to Communism." And when he left office, that rating had only reached 32 percent, according to cbsnews.com. When a country goes to war, and that war is unpopular, approval ratings suffer. But retrospectively, Truman isn't put down as the worst president ever. History shines well on Mr. Truman, and the same will be said of Mr. Bush. Hindsight makes heros.

Additionally, you have to view Mr. Bush's ratings in the proper context. Today, information is literally pouring out of cell phones, computers, television, radio, print, etc. Information, news, and the bias associated with them, is available to everyone. Compare that to Truman's time, where television, radio and print were not so widely available or used, and where the Internet was not even a twinkle in someones eye. Media bias existed, but was largely reserved to opinion pieces, and not labeled as news, or breaking headlines. His ratings were terrible, even without much media coverage, and with a more fair spin. Of course Bush's approval ratings were going to be terrible with every Joe citizen assaulted by the main stream media, telling them how horrible Bush is.

Bush made a lot of mistakes. He wasn't a true conservative in all matters. He was by no measure perfect, nor did I agree with him in all things. But, he did have convictions, he did stick to his promises, he did do what he thought best for us. That is far more than you can say about most people.

How will history shine on President Bush?