Grading President Bush

Is President George W. Bush promoting a truly conservative agenda?

In the latest edition of National Review magazine, John O’Sullivan says so far the answer is no.

O’Sullivan says Bush needed to get three things right to be counted as a successful conservative leader:

He had to halt the advance of the regulatory state.

He had to restore a sense of national unity.

And he had to prevent the rises of anti-Americanism in Europe.

On the all points, O’Sullivan says Bush has failed.

Indeed, under Bush, O’Sullivan points out that “Domestic discretionary spending has risen faster since 2001 than under another other president since LBJ and Nixon. Federal spending now accounts for over 20 percent – and the federal deficit about 3 per cent – of America’s GDP.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan laments that Bush has aided disunity with his support for bilingualism and with his support for an immigration policy that would “admit as many new immigrants as businesses wanted to employ without limit.”

Finally, Bush’s policy of promoting and encouraging the unification of Europe, O’Sullivan argues could result in the emergence of an anti-American superpower.

Yet, O’Sullivan says Bush can still turn things around, but he will have to act fast.

“He (Bush) needs a positive conservative agenda that can be successfully enacted in a relatively short time.”

Time will tell if the President can rise to the challenge.