Is George Walker Bush our worst President ever?

I know, I know. You think you're about to hear more totally unfair, biased, loony left wing liberal bashing of Bush. Well OK, maybe, but the truth is that as the second and last term of George W. "Quincy" Bush winds down, I've been thinking that all the top contenders for worst President of the United States, Democrat, Republican or Whig, can rest easy. Seriously, I've been trying to think if any of our former Chief Executives ever sank to the level of W's low water mark and indelibly staining bathtub ring.

You're right. It's certainly not fair to judge our current President before his term ends or before he is judged by the sands of time. It's just that it's fun to wonder if thirty more years of scrutiny will really make any difference. Thirty-four years later, Nixon is still a crook though admittedly the botched second-rate burglary and Tricky Dick's paranoia seem somewhat quaint and inconsequential compared to the lists of transgressions and psychological challenges logged by some of today's politicians. And Nixon's accomplishments in foreign and domestic policy were and are notable if not far-reaching. Hey, look 'em up.

But what has George done that basks in a positive light or even a dim bulb? Try to name one successful program, positive initiative, good speech, or even a memorable sentence. Hard huh? Looking back and grasping for any low echelon comparison in recent history, Jimmy Carter was not a particularly strong President. Gasoline was expensive and sometimes hard to get, the economy was down, inflation was up and Iran thumbed its nose or flashed other, more expletive digits in our country's direction. But compared to Bush, Jimmy Grits looked like the world's statesman and domestic guru as he worked to get Israel and Egypt together and at least tried to help Americans in tough times. And that conclusion can be drawn before counting the recent starting of a war that is widely accepted by liberal and conservative alike as unnecessary at best and horribly catastrophic and humanly and monetarily wasteful at worst. W may never have slept around but the religious right must be yearning to trade W for a more randy President that also might occasionally get on base in any game by getting a hit or at least getting beaned by a wild pitch.

So as we see the last months of President George W. Bush enter the history books, somewhere Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding must be high-fiving. They're out of the cellar.