If you had to rank the Presidents, where would President George W. Bush end up on the list? After looking at his domestic and foreign policy initiatives, there’s a strong case that he is the worst ever. Measured simply against his desired or stated outcomes, based on speeches or public comments, he has been particularly bad at delivering what he promises.

As a rough starting point, I’ve outlined the major policy initiatives of both Bush terms along with a grade from -5 to 5 where 5 is absolute success and -5 indicates he achieved the opposite result of his proposed aim. A score of 0 indicates he didn’t do anything (no cost and no benefit on this policy issue). I specifically am avoiding whether I think the policies constitute good policy or not. I’m also avoiding whether I agree with the policy or not.

I know this list isn’t complete, so I’d love to expand on it. Feel free to leave those ideas in the comments below as well.

Domestic Policy Agenda

Office of Faith-Based Initiatives - Score: 2 - Former insiders have claimed that the office is more a political prop and showpiece than an actual, functioning White House department. He gets points for creating this and not getting sued to oblivion and for inspiring state level departments in Republican states.

Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit - Score: 3 - This passed, though it seemed targeted at helping big pharma as much as senior citizens. Folks are finding the donut hole a rude surprise and many complained about the complexity of the plan. The combined effect has taken the shine off of this plan.

No Child Left Behind - Score: -1 - In terms of achieving it’s actual goals, little has actually changed for public schools. In fact, there’s little positive to report. On top of that, school takeovers and privatization have not yielded improved results. The costs to states has been high, especially since the federal funding has been insufficient or non-existent.

Social Security Reform - Score: -5 - Far from actually reforming anything, the President convinced the majority of Americans that doing nothing was preferable to doing something about Social Security. Further, it provided a rallying point for Democrats and showed the first signs of weakness in the Republican stronghold. All of this doesn’t actually matter for the score, though. It’s a -5 because the policy failed to address any recommendations of the various blue ribbon panels while his other spending agendas have raised the stakes for Social Security in the years to come.

Gay Marriage, Abortion, and Christian fundamentalism - Score: 2 - On gay marriage and abortion, Bush has continued to deliver nominal victories but little actual policy change. The most significant impact of his two terms will be the appointment of Alito and Roberts to the Supreme Court. Their impact on these issues has yet to be seen (I remain unconvinced that either will rule in any way that will eliminate Roe v. Wade), but these appointments will have lasting impacts upon many different issues. He’s passed precious few laws and merely maintained the status quo on both major issues beyond those appointments. DOMA was the law of the land from the Clinton years and gay marriage is still not recognized at the federal level and abortions are still free of federal interference. Large sums of money have been spent on abstinence-only sex ed programs with poor results. I can’t think of a success here, actually.

Foreign Policy

The Global War on Terror (or whatever it’s called now) - Score: -2 - Terrorism incidents are up over the last few years. Iraq is a mess and far from a beacon of stability in the Middle East. Osama bin Laden still runs free. Iran has not shifted from their support of terrorist organizations. Hezbollah and Hamas have won elections largely because the Bush administration doesn’t understand how these organizations become popular. Our foreign policy has helped those organizations become stronger and more popular. The Bush administrations prioritization prior to 9/11 significantly misjudged the world, and their actions since have hardly demonstrated any improved judgement.

North Korea - Score: -4 - Since declaring them to be part of the “Axis of Evil” North Korea has tested a nuclear device and largely ignored diplomatic overtures from Europe. Six party talks have been largely unsuccessful. Far from containing North Korea with strong rhetoric, North Korea has stood defiant. North Korea now could have an impact on negotiations with Iran.

Iran - Score: -4 - Inexplicably ignored until the Iraq invasion imploded, Iran has gained prestige on the world stage because of Bush administration policy. There’s really not a worse outcome for our Iran policy.

Etc.

Overall, he’s done a great job of message control and information management. Beyond that, I find little to be proud of. Have I missed anything? Leave it in the comments.