presidents

several weeks ago I read a book on Ulysses S. Grant. Pretty random, I was in a used book store, picked it up, found it to be well written and interesting, and bought it.

The book was limited to the Civil War years, covering the military career of a man almost universally acclaimed as one of the best military strategists of his time.

I remembered reading that Grant's presidency hadn't gone quite so well. But I didn't get around to doing the research until tonight.

Actually it was only half as bad as I'd remembered. Apparently a lot of the negative reviews were due to a tolerance of corruption, and indeed there is a list of scandals that is amazing by modern standards. But there are also some positive accomplishments listed; a solid record on civil rights, certainly visionary (and risky) at that time; several economic and monetary policy accomplishments; and a generally solid foreign policy record. Like most who have actually fought wars and seen men die, he kept things pretty peaceful during his eight years in charge.

That's so often the case with tarnished presidencies. Nixon may have had his mega-scandal, but he also signed the Clean Water Act and ended the Vietnam War. More recent presidents, those who have not yet found their full place in history, tended to have their good as well as there bad. Reagan presided over the breakup of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall, but he was also tarnished by Iran Contra and we're still paying the social costs of some of his budget cuts. Bush I was generally lackluster, but he pulled off a masterpiece in Iraq, winning a military victory but then pulling back... in the face of short-sighted criticism at the time... to leave a balance of power intact in the region. Clinton's optimism helped fuel eight years of unprecedented prosperity, even as the first seeds of of the financial crisis were sown.

But then we get to Bush II. And I can't think of a single positive thing he's done. Not one. Nothing that will matter in a year, much less in 100.

He started a war in Iraq on the basis of things that turned out not to be real, thus distracting attention and resources from the legitimate fight in Afghanistan. As a result both conflicts are ongoing. The economy lies in wreckage, in the depths of what will probably be the most severe recession since the Great Depression. The level of incompetence in federal agencies is at an all-time high, as evidenced by the botched handling of Hurricane Katrina and the spate of DOI decisions being thrown out in court because they were based on politics rather than science. And Americans are no longer the "good guys" of Reagan's movies, now we're torturers and violators of civil rights. Those are the highlights, but the list could go on.

Bush II makes Grant look good in retrospect. And as difficult as Obama's job is going to be, it can't help but be an improvement. Only a few more days, and the nightmare is over. History is not likely to be kind.