The Bush Legacy Gave Us Obama (Today's Zaman, TURKEY)

In theory, there should not be much to debate concerning how the Bush years will be remembered by history. After a catastrophic terrorist attack, two major wars and the return of depression economics, George W. Bush is leaving office with some of the lowest approval ratings for any American president in history. But if you want to find a bright side in all this, just think about what is going on today in American politics. Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom for radical change to happen. Simply put, Americans would never have elected an African-American president named Barack Hussein Obama had it not been for the Bush fiasco.

Self-correction and self-renewal are the most important assets of American democracy. And the Bush years have given us a lot to correct. This week, The Economist argued that the three most notable characteristics of the Bush presidency were partisanship, politicization and incompetence. I think "incompetence" should be singled out. After all, it is hardly unusual for governments to display a certain level of partisanship and politicization. Yet you don't have the level of mind-boggling incompetence displayed during the Bush years in most functioning Western governments. How else can one explain the decision to invade Iraq with only 150,000 troops and without planning for post-combat occupation? How else can one explain the response to Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005?

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