Tonight President George W. Bush gave his farewell address to the nation, his last scheduled public appearance before President-elect Obama is sworn in on Tuesday as the nation’s 44th president.  As President Bush used this speech to look back on his Presidency, I too, decided it was time to reflect on the man that led our great country for the past 8 years.

Ultimately, President Bush is a good guy, but was a poor president.  A man with good intentions, a caring heart, and a strong, deep love for his country—but also a man who did not surround himself with good people, made many poor decisions, and had an unyielding lack of curiosity.

Meet George, A Good Guy

I begin, with the good.  George W. Bush in my opinion is a good guy.  If you were to meet him in person, without the title of president, I would wager he would be kind, courteous, and even jovial with you.  Mr. Bush is a man with good intentions, a caring heart, and a strong, deep love for his country.

One of the best examples of Mr. Bush's humanity is Africa, where he more than doubled US foreign aid for fighting AIDS in the country and introduced performance-based standards for foreign-aid recipients.  Even incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a strong critic of Bush during her run for president, gave him credit during her January 13th Senate confirmation hearing, saying "Now, thanks to a variety of efforts—including President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief...the United States enjoys widespread support in public opinion polls in many African countries. This is true even among Muslim populations in Tanzania and Kenya, where America is seen as a leader in the fight against AIDS, malaria, and TB."

President Bush also created the Millennium Challenge Account (MCC) program, which decreased political involvement in US foreign-aid decisions by creating criteria for choosing countries who follow good-governance practices.  A 2006 study by Harvard University found that after controlling for time-trends, potential recipient countries improved 25% more on MCA's criteria than other countries.  Furthermore, it has contributed to the dramatic decrease in number of days it takes to start a business in both low and low-middle income countries—something as an entrepreneur I find very endearing.

As for the love of his country, no one can deny the lengths at which he went to protect it after the brutal attacks of September 11th.  For 7 years after, many attacks have been thwarted, and many American lives saved.  While you can rightly argue the methods he used to ensure our safety, we have to be grateful for the result.  President Bush puts it best:

There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil.

- President Bush, Farewell Address, Jan. 16, 2009

For these reasons, it is easy to see that President Bush is a man with good intentions, a caring heart, and a strong, deep love for his country—means by which we call someone a good guy.

Meet President Bush, A Poor President

While intentions, a caring heart, and strong, deep love for your country are worthy attributes of a good American, they are givens for any American President.  It is simply not enough to be a good guy and run the most powerful country in the world.  Unfortunately, Bush was just that, a good guy, not fit for the role of President of the United States.

President Bush came into power through a bitter election that left the country divided against itself.  An election of ideological differences and "compassionate conservatism" created a polarization not felt for some time within our nation. 

Yet, early on in his Presidency, less than 8 months after he took office, President Bush was handed the terrible tragedy of 9/11 that had wrapped up within it a golden opportunity. The opportunity at hand was the chance to automatically wash away all political divide within the country.  Instead, President Bush decided to buy into the ideology of nation building that he ultimately leaves to our next President in just a few short days. 

With that opportunity missed, we are left today with the bare facts of his Presidency.  Two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.  Katrina, Abu Ghraib, a country's image tarnished in the eyes of the world.  The list can go on, but we know it all too well.

Bush has failed to surround himself with good people—a key to any good leader’s success.

- Donald Trump, assessing Bush as CEO of largest corporation in the world

As I explained in my post detailing "Why I Support Barack Obama for President", I once saw an interview by Donny Deutsch, in which he asked Donald Trump “You are brought in as a consultant, he [Bush] is the CEO of the largest corporation in the world, America. Let’s dissect him as a CEO, tell me where he has gone wrong, where he has gone right as a CEO”. Trump responds by saying that Bush has failed to surround himself with good people—a key to any good leader’s success. While Trump may be a bit rough around the edges, no one can deny his successes, nor can you deny the fact that he brings up is true. Surrounding yourself with good people in life can be a telling sign of one's own character. Our President must have the judgment to surround him/herself with good people.  This President did not.

Lastly, it was a lack of curiosity that was key to so much of President Bush's failures.  Time and time again, a "my way or the highway" approach was taken.  This is the man who beat John Kerry by convincing the public that being flexible and changing your mind every so often is not what a president should do.  The man who changed the definition of stubborn to "decisive".  And this is a trait of President Bush that is simply built into his DNA, a part of him that remains to this day, and will long after he leaves office.  Unfortunately for him, and for the nation, it is the worst trait a president can possibly hold, as it discourages the very dissention and free flow ideas our Founding Fathers build this nation on. 

So as the country says goodbye to its 43rd president, I say we take a hard look back on the past 8 years, gleaning from it what we can.  Good guys make great citizens, but not great presidents.  George Bush was, is and will be a good guy, but will forever go down as a poor president.