HE WAS supposed to be the most powerful and diplomatic man in the world but his awful public speaking and thoughtless comments became great social issues. Eventually this caused a new phrase to be coined, ‘Bushism’.

On January 20 George W. Bush will leave his position as the president of what was once the most respected and influential country in the world. Reflecting on his eight years in the White House, it is clear there were some unforgettably epic events. 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, and finally the meltdown on Wall Street all took place with George ‘Dubya’ Bush in office.
Although it is hard to believe all these disasters happened on Bush’s watch, the really vital question is, when they did happen (or he chose to cause them - Iraq) how did he react?… ‘Poorly’ would be too kind. Even worse, he was voted back into office for a second term. Maybe the current financial crisis is some kind of karma coming round to bite back at those voters.

It now seems whatever Bush says is meaningless and any comment he makes is thoughtless. Bush’s peculiar words, phrases, pronunciations, and slips of the tongue, have now strangely become an element of popular culture. Have people just accepted his presidency as some sort of practical joke played on us by some comedian? When is someone going to say… ‘SURPRISE’?

During his infamous speech in Tennessee in 2002, he said, “There’s an old saying in Tennessee that says, fool me once, shame on… shame on you…. Fool me… fool me… can’t get fooled again.” He tried to impress the public by using a proverb he had very little knowledge on, unfortunately, in the end the only one he fooled was himself. He not only used doubtful old sayings but also mixed up words. Another public address in Trenton produced this eyebrow twisting utterance “We need an energy bill that encourages consumption.” He meant to say conservation. It’s truly a wonder that he received his MBA from Yale.

However, his most cringe worthy comment came when he spoke about the esteemed Nelson Mandela, former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner. “I heard somebody say, ‘Where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead. Because Saddam killed all the Mandelas.” Em… what? Someone should have told the rest of the world. George, how did you hear the news?

As he leaves office one must wonder how history will remember him, “The worst president ever?” Possibly.

But Bush-bashers, take note, the problems he has caused and those he has left unsolved could be the factors that will make or break Barak Obama’s term, lets just see how attempts to sort out the mess Bush has left behind.