Alright so many hate Bill clinton. All the scandal and all wasted money on the whole Lewinsky bull amounted to nothing we could prosper from. In the end we were doing better than before he was in office. The national debt clock was pulled down and we were in the highest surplus in decades. What was so bad about that? Are personal issues more important than the NAtions in the end? Is it a coincidence that when a bush comes into office we are at war in a recession and the world goes tense and uneasy. Is it a coincidence that we are at war with Iraq Once again? Is it a coincidence that Bush's Tax Cut's are aimed to help the Stinking Filthy RIch White men of the world? Is it a coincidence that Education goes down and Military spending goes up?

I don't understand why people love Bush and I guess I never will.

Well, one thing I'll defend is that Bush inherited a lot of problems.

The recession began after Bush was elected but before just before Bush actually took office. I recognized as soon as that happened, Bush would be blamed for it in the next election.

Second, 9/11 was planned well before Bush took office (probably during the Clinton era). Thus, Bush inherited the necessity of drastic action in response to that attack.

Those are doubtlessly two pretty huge problems to confront as soon as you step into office (Clinton bears a lot of responsibility here).

No, I'm not a huge Bush supporter, particularly his position against Iraq and of giving tax-cuts staggered against the poor, but I DO think he gets more heat from people on this board than he deserves.

How soon people forget.

The Nasdaq and Dow dove in the first quarter of 2000 when many tech companies gave bad earnings reports for the previous quarter. Bush had just been inaugurated when the earnings reports came out. So technically, companies were beginning to have their troubles at the end of Clinton's presidency. The downturn of the markets were one of the fuels that helped pass the massive tax cut that Bush promised when running for office. I think he could have passed it anyhow, with a Republican controlled House and Congress, but the slight fear of economical troubles right off the bat helped that tax cut pass within the first 2 months of Bush's presidency.

Blaming a president for the economy is just another way that political parties try to win votes. Very rarely is it justifiable. Many presidents have done a ton of things to try to help out the economy, but it seems there are too many intangibles to control it. Franklin Roosevelt passage of all the federal programs during the Great Depression did little to help out. In the end, it took a world war to pull the US out of it.