The 'Bush Legacy Project' Is Failing

Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly at 12:27 PM on December 26, 2008.

A few years ago, Chris Matthews said, on the air, that "everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left." Three years later, it appears that liberal whack-jobs have somehow brainwashed the vast majority of the electorate.

A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush's departure from office is coming not a moment too soon.

Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they're glad Bush is going; 23 percent indicated they'll miss him. [...]

CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider added, "As President Bush prepares to leave office, the American public has a parting thought: Good riddance. At least that's the way three-quarters feel."

That "Bush Legacy Project," which has been working lately on improving the president's public standing, doesn't seem to be connecting.

Now, every obviously knows that Bush is extremely unpopular, and has been for quite some time, but it's helpful to pause once in a while to appreciate just how despised this president is. We're witnessing something truly historical here.

Consider, for example, the question of post-presidential contributions. Eight years ago, 55% of Americans wanted to see Bill Clinton remain active in public life. For Bush, the number is 33%. The country, in other words, not only wants Bush to go away, but we don't want to see him popping up from time to time, either.

Eric Kleefeld went through some of the internals and found widespread distaste for Bush on every level. Americans don't like him, don't trust him, don't think he cares about them, and don't admire him. The public doesn't think Bush united the country, doesn't think he brought about the change we needed, and believes he failed to manage the government effectively.

The scope of the public's disdain for Bush is almost impressive.

Tagged as: bush, legacy, delusional, bush legacy project, public disdain