Judging Bush

There is no shortage of opinions on the legacy that George W. Bush will leave as forty-third president of the United States. Recognizing that Bush the Younger has been variously described as dim-witted, opportunistic, innovative, and bold, it would be presumptuous to draw any hard and fast conclusions about how history will view him. Nevertheless, it is well within our ability to begin to make preliminary judgments by weighing the existing evidence and testing assumptions.

Robert Maranto is the 21st Century Chair in Leadership in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Tom Lansford is Academic Dean of the Gulf Coast campus and Associate Professor of Political Science, International Development & Affairs at the University of Southern Mississippi. Jeremy Johnson is a doctoral candidate in political science at Brown University.