What happened to President Bush?

If you read any of the books written by people that served in his administration, you will find that Cheney pretty much kept Bush from knowing much of what was ACTUALLY happening. Protesters were kept from being able to be seen by him, one even tells of a visit from a Saudi prince that sent talking points ahead to him so they could discuss them, when the prince got to Crawford, Bush seemed clueless as to WHY the man was there. (Totally baffling the Saudi) Later, the talking points were found in Cheney's office - Bush WAS clueless, Cheney "hijacked" the information.

He WAS detached and unaware. Paul O'Neill speaks of meetings with Bush where he talked, Bush never did, nor did he give a clue as to what he wanted done. It was difficult for his staff to work with him - there was a small group that he spoke with - Cheney, Rumsfield, Rove, etc... (basically the neo-con crowd) and what the inside "outsiders" had to say never made it to him.

Kind of sad and strange. Unbelievable too.

I for one cannot imagine the pressure that the President Of The United States must be under. I mean how would you like a job where the best you can hope for is to have only half the people in the country ticked off at you at any point in time.

I'm sure that when his tour of duty was completed that both President Bush and, Ms. Bush must have breathed a collective sigh of relief and I for one can't say I blame him.

It's truly unfortunate that we can't have a civil debate in this country that isn't controlled by the radical 1% on either end of the spectrum. I truly hope that our current President ( whom I didn't vote for) is given more respect than his predecessor. Good Luck President Obama I have a feeling you'll need it.

I have been watching the responses to this question. Seems to make my case about radical responses, civil discusions, and lack of respect.

I don't know how the history of America would be written but it's more than true that in world-history, President Bush would be remembered as a Giant Killer, most notorious, bad-tempered, wrong president ever the the world faced. Now you know what would be my explanation regarding this man as answer to your question?

Unaware of all the problems? Got depressed? This shrewd guy?

Seeing as he never really won that election in 2000 I think he walked on to the stage and got blinded by the lights. And he never really got over it. When you make that many mistakes that cost that much money and more importantly that many lives I don't know how you get over it. Even if you cheat your way to the oval office, when you end up one of the lowest rated presidents of all time it must be a really kick in the teeth.

I agree with you that what happened to us was greatly overwhelming. I cannot imagine the weight of that responsibility on him. But that was his job and I think that being a good man, he tried to meet halfway with the liberals and the conservatives. I like President Bush although I think that he could've been more forceful. The liberals took advantage of this weakness. So, with the help of the media, they turned him into this horrible person.

I still think President Bush did good. He wasn't perfect, as nobody is, but he did good.

I'm happy that he escaped the lynch-mob mentality of the liberal bug-outs who have been using him as a scape goat and whipping boy to cover up their own guilt. They already forgave themselves for ignoring 2% of the military intelligence about WMDs throughout the world. In spite of this, they elected him twice, and he had an 87% approval rate while our planes were bombing the hell out of Iraq. Only when we lost a few on the ground to religious nuts gone wild, did they decide to jump ship and blame it all on Bush.

Such heroes, these Bush haters.---Hope they don't decide to gang up on another U.S. president. It's disgusting to watch them squirm and lash out at the witnesses to their stumbling retreat.

Truly my entirely honest opinion is that Bush knew the public hated him, so he just enjoyed his stay in the White House while he still was in there. No point in trying to mend the public opinion or something. That was beyond him.

As for the War in Iraq, that was because he was trying to show his dad that he can do where his dad failed.

He checked out a few months before the election. Honestly, I think Katrina happened to him.

I think the public and media overwhelmed him and I think he felt like whatever he would do he would get criticized for. I think he just tried to steer the country in the right direction for the last year and tried to get by doing the bare minimum

I think the guilt of his complicity in 9/11 is just eating him alive.