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As a writer and academic who has actively followed US politics for over 40 years, I can honestly say that the state of the US presidency is now worse than it has ever been at any time since WW2. Much of the blame for this can be laid at the door of George W Bush, although some must devolve on other presidents from Nixon onwards.

If we are to assess George W., let us think about what history will say about him. His legacy will, of course, be overshadowed by Iraq. The desire to invade that country was present in the minds of Bush's closest advisers before his election. Note that I don't say Bush's mind, as I don't perceive him being capable of that sort of strategic thinking. My view is that he is a convenient mouthpiece for the groups of neo-Cons who had earlier served his Father whilst he was President, but whose ambitions were curtailed when Bush Snr failed to win a second term. The decision to actually invade was taken as soon as 9/11 gave the excuse. There are reported conversations confirming this.

This decision to force a war with Iraq has cost the US more than 3,000 lives (and the total will be much larger if the current insane 'surge' into urban guerilla warfare is fully implemented. The number of Iraqi dead is well into six-figures and the rate of killings is increasing. The decision cost the US all the sympathy it had gathered as a result of 9/11. This is a war which has now involved the US longer for than it was involved in WW2 and the War in Iraq is further away from being won today than it was on the day US troops first reached Baghdad. As a result, the world is a much more dangerous place for US citizens. The current president has squandered an immense legacy of goodwill which will take at least a generation to rebuild.

George W's other international contribution is his denial, at the behest of his oil industry friends, of the reality of glbal warming. This despite almost overwhelming evidence (growing for a quarter of a century or more) that the world's, and in particular the US's, use of fossil fuels is doing potentially irreversible harm to the globe. The impact of policy failure in this area will be felt for generations to come and will cost the lives of many millions of the world's poorest people as climate change really takes hold. This will also impact closer to home, again more heavily on the poor: Katrina reminded us of that. Katrina also reminded us of the degree of inefficiency and corruption in the federal administration headed by this

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