Republican Failure at our expense

President Bush's legacy will be assessed by many measures, most notably the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But by his own standards set at the start of his time in office, the president has failed to live up to either the tone or the results he promised.

In his final State of the Union address, Bush lays out a modest agenda—but only wants it on his own terms. But by his own standards set at the start of his time in office, the president has failed to live up to either the tone or the results he promised.

Contentiousness might explain why the president rapidly pivoted to putting pressure on Democrats to fall in line with the modest agenda of his final year in office. Instead of offering ground for cooperation, the president continued the pattern he set in the earliest months of his presidency: to insist on cooperation only on his terms.

He leaves to his successor a terrorist challenge, and a WMD threat, that is far more complex than he could ever have imagined in February 2001, AND the economy in a shambles.