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The Spectacle Blog
By the way, the entitlements numbers I cited earlier have a lot to do with why I take a dim view of describing George W. Bush as a “fantastic president.” Here are the projections for Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit passed by a Republican-controlled Congress (though the House had to be dragged along kicking and screaming) and signed into law by Mr. Fantastic: $6.8 trillion in unfunded liabilities over a 75-year horizon and $14.3 trillion over an infinite horizon. Those are bigger long-term deficits than for Medicare Part A, the hospital insurance program.
None of this gives Barack Obama a pass on his dismal record, which frequently consisted of taking Bush-era overspending and throwing it into hyperdrive. If Obama wants to blame his failures on someone who has been out of office nearly four years, that reflects poorly on him. If conservatives want to heap unqualified praise on a president for bankrupting the country at a slower rate than Obama, that will reflect poorly on us.
The desire to say nice things about a fellow Republican who looks a bit better when compared to his successor is somewhat understandable, especially when considering personal relationships and friendships. But promising future conservative leaders should hold higher standards when applying superlatives to budget-busters from the red team. Until we make a clean break from big government conservatism, we can’t make a clean break from Obamanomics.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/24/fiscal-conservatism-would-be-f
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ncatty| 4.24.12 @ 1:11PM
"..fellow Republican.."? Bush ruined the Republican Party and laid the groundwork for our present chief executive catastrophe.
BR| 4.25.12 @ 3:16AM
And remember who set up the pitch for the Clinton one?
RJ| 4.24.12 @ 2:49PM
George W. Bush was the biggest political disappointment in my life, even more than Richard Nixon. Each time a Bush supporter speaks well of Romney, my doubts about Romney grows. Bush's legacy is the Obama Administration. It wouldn't have happened without GWB.
Al Adab| 4.24.12 @ 4:04PM
It is all to fitting that a liberal, eastern, accomodationist republican - Romney - will be the last GOP nominee for the Presidency. Perhaps, just perhaps, we might see the emergence of a Conservative Party, but more likely I fear is that our one party nation will decide to simply forgo these expensive and devisive elections altogether.
The Conservative Movement has energized the GOP for almost fifty years now, but the GOP continues to turn its back on the Movement. How long will Conservatives "hold their nose" and vote GOP while being snubbed every four years?
BR| 4.25.12 @ 3:23AM
Not me, not this time. The political class that is running the Republican party is going to have to be totally discredited and out of power before anything will ever change, and I plan to do my part to speed that up by making the consequences come sooner rather than later.
Pete| 4.24.12 @ 3:09PM
Bush's irresponsible budgets paved away for the extravagent Obama.
The American Hitman| 4.24.12 @ 4:42PM
Bush didn't do it by himself. The GOP is shot through with statists, progressives and big government suckers.
w-wholesalejerseys | 4.25.12 @ 3:02AM
Exactly - this is what I was saying in another post
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aware| 4.25.12 @ 5:39AM
Neo cons will never give up their beloved State. Any more than "conservatism" impeded the explosive growth of the Leviathan. Or maybe, just maybe, "conservatives" think their intentions count more than results.