The Bush's must be incredibly skillful in order to have the political family clout they do. We haven't seen anything like it in America since the Kennedys. If you think of the Bush family as inept, ask yourself why they have held the office of president twice in so short a period of time. George Bush I has an absolutely amazing biograpy - an incredible number of political positions he held in his lifetime. This was not by accident.
Speaking of the Kennedys, JFK is an interesting case study in public opinion polls. JFK had medicore poll numbers and public support until the Cuban Missile Crisis. Remember there was a recession in 1962. His numbers went sky-high into the 70% range during the missile crisis but then decreased rapidly going into 1963 and were at 58% the week of his assassination. The 58% figure is just about the same as Bush's, In other words, most Americans felt roughly the same about Kennedy as Bush performance-wise at the time.
George Bush received an 89% rating in February 1991. Truman an 87% in 1945.
Big events polarize opinions and this is a universal effect.
Insulting the president is pretty normal. Lincoln and Washington really had it bad. "King George!" (of England) was the biggest insult you could throw at Mr. Washington. Carter was a "Peanut Farmer". Reagan was senile. Clinton aka Bubba was a cheater. I don't think any US president in history was free from such insults.
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01-23-2003
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