1. Afghanistan handled well without fostering anti-Islam hatred This is the one thing I agree with - I give Bush a lot of credit for moving on Afghanistan. But there was never a real threat of a true anti-Islam backlash - that was overhyped. 2. Passed largest tax cut in history Well, the tax cut's looking unwise given our high defense spending. The money will have to come from somewhere... 3. Pro vouchers Vouchers are a bad idea. The right believes that the teachers in bad schools are the problem. The left believes that the low salaries of teachers in bad schools are the problem. The truth is that the students in bad schools are the problem, and shuttling them off to tony private schools is simply going to mean that people will flee tony private schools...for non-voucher-accepting tony private schools. 4. Pro privatizing social security I'll believe it when I see it. If he does this, he'll get a lot of credit, but "supporting" something is very different from expending political capital to get it done. 5. "Going to clean house in Iraq" See response to number 4. 6. Wants to limit "pain and suffering" malpractice awards to $250,000. Props to him if he gets this through, but again, I'll believe it when I see it. 7. Bush's speech didn't cause the DJ average's drop. I think it's pretty much conventional wisdom that the day - the day - that Bush spoke on Wall Street, the market started dropping. We can look at the minute-by-minute ticker if you want, but I'm pretty sure it'd bear out the conventional wisdom on this issue. 8. Control of the judiciary What great appointments has Bush made? 9. Free trade Ha! Bush??? Pro-free trade? What about steel, farm, textiles, etc. ? 10. Richard Nixon said every cabinet should have one potential president in it. Clinton's had none. W's has about six. Who are you referring to here? Condi, maybe. Powell - I hope not. Am I missing someone? You certainly can't be referring to deadweights like Richard Paige... 11. limits on abortion & cloning This is a strong minus, in my opinion. Cloning research will just move overseas. I don't want to belabor the point, but Bush's stem-cell decision bespoke of tremendous ignorance - and Clintonian waffling. As for abortion, well, I think that if a woman is considering an abortion she should probably have one. She either wasn't planning to have a kid or can't afford to raise the child, and either way society is statistically better off. 14. The troops have a commander in chief they respect Maybe right after 9/11, but since then they've seen an indecisive wimp. Look at the contradictory signals re: Israel and Iraq. Look at the idiotic expansion of the "Office of Homeland Security". 15. He actually believed what he said in his speeches at the National Cathedral and before the joint session of Congress What did he say? That Islam was "peace"? That was obviously fed to him. That "Jesus was his favorite philosopher"? I fail to see how this has any relevance to his job performance. I always chuckle when people bring up Bush's "virtue" relative to Clinton. Let's get this straight: Bush is a drunk driver who lied about his past drug use, lied about quitting alcohol, and passed laws to put kids in jail for the same offenses he got away with. I can go on and on on this subject, but the point is that Bush could - and has - hurt others with his moral failings. Had Clinton's failings not come to light, they would have hurt no one. I eagerly await the day the "Bush snorting coke" pictures hit the newstands...it's only a matter of time. 16. He favors Israel over his own "legacy" Not true. Bush's waffling on Israel is a sickening thing to behold. At least Clinton made a real effort to reconcile the two sides. Bush seems content to send mixed signals to Sharon, alternately condemning him and clapping him on the back. There is not a shred of principle in Bush's stance on Israel.