Julian Zelizer, CNN: Bush a success because Obama is keeping a huge number of his policies in place

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Why George W. Bush must be smiling
By Julian E. Zelizer, Special to CNN
December 13, 2010 8:20 a.m. EST



Then-President George W. Bush laughs during an event on the South Lawn of the White House on April 24, 2008.

Editor's note: Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter," published by Times Books, and editor of a book assessing former President George W. Bush's administration, published by Princeton University Press.

Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- Somewhere in Texas, former President George W. Bush must be smiling. When President Obama and the Republican leadership reached a deal on extending all of the Bush tax cuts, including a generous exemption for estate taxes, the current president ratified a key policy from the former administration.

While Obama ran as the candidate who would fight to overturn Bush's record, a huge number of his policies remain in place.

This says a lot about President Bush. One of the key measures that we have to evaluate the success of a president is not simply how many of his proposals pass through Congress but also how many of his policies outlast his time in office. Many of Franklin D. Roosevelt's programs, including Social Security and the Wagner Act, survive into our time.

Though Harry Truman ended his term with his approval ratings in the tank, most of his key national security programs would define America's Cold War policies through the fall of the Soviet Union decades later. Lyndon Johnson pushed a host of policies such as Medicare and federal aid to education that survived the conservative revolution.

Thus far, President Bush has been doing well on that score.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/13/zelizer.george.w.bush/index.html?hpt=Sbin

[aquart]

1. I could vomit.

[niceypoo]

4. Yeah, no shit

:puke:

[Demeter]

2. Conquest Is NOT Success

when you are supposed to be a government of, by, and for the People.

[Skittles]

3. yeah Julian, us thinking Dems freaking KNOW that

it's why we are disillusioned and DISGUSTED

[PhilosopherKing]

5. hogwash

The Bush presidency will be viewed in history as a complete failure. They will put him in the same sentence as Herbert Hoover.

As for Obama, it's too early to tell. So far, I would call him Clinton-Lite.

[Lasher]

7. Why is it too early to tell with Obama, but not too early for Bush?

Obama is perpetuating many of the same policies that defined the failed Bush presidency. The full linked article demonstrates this.

[whatchamacallit]

6. Skynet just keeps cranking them out (nt)