Bush's Legacy

Will George W. Bush go down in history as the worst U.S. president ever? Journalists and political comedians write the first rough draft of history. Many of them think Bush has earned this distinction. Gary Trudeau gave us a good start on defining Bush's "legacy." He listed--

a catastrophic, unending war
Guantanamo
torture
Abu Ghraib
kangaroo courts
waterboarding
black sites
extraordinary rendition
Haliburton
no-bid contracts
cronyism
recess appointments
warrantless wiretapping
fired U.S. attorneys
Plamegate
Katrina
doubling national debt
denying global warming

To these I would add--
anti-scientism
he coined the term "junk science" to mean scientific findings that do not agree with his political objectives
he championed legislation stifling stem-cell research
he favored the teaching of "intelligent design" in high school science as if it were a reasonable alternative theory to Darwinian evolution (and neo-Darwinism)

undermining environmentalism and endangered species protection

tax breaks for the wealthy

rehashed failed "trickle-down" economics

rehashed and distorted failed "deregulation" (e.g. of banking, Wall Street, and home loans)

Bush has also set at least three personal presidential records:
(1) he has taken more vacation days than any previous president
(2) he has spent more time traveling abroad than any previous president (which is remarkable considering his catastrophic "cowboy" approach to diplomacy)
(3) he has presided over a greater expansion of the national debt than any previous administration