Revealing President George Bush's Preliminary Report Card

The final assessment of President George Bush ruling tenure won’t be known for a number of years, but early results show troubling numbers.

Just 43 more days to go before Bush will hand over the presidency to Obama. So how did Bush fare the last eight years? Did he improve or damage the country? Let us see how his various policies have affected the numbers, positive or negative. 1.) National Debt on Election Day: In 2000 the National Debt was $7.1 trillion; in 2008 it has increased to $10.6 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. 2.) Percentage of Americans without health insurance: It has risen by 1 per cent to about 45 million without health insurance. 3.) Average high school graduation rate: It has increased by nearly three percent, which is a slight improvement. But we still lag behind other developed countries. Hopefully, we will see more improvement in the next administration. 4.) U.S. funding for global HIV/AIDS: This is one area Bush has done well: he has increased the funding by 5 billion in eight years. 5.) Average number of endangered species listed per year: Bush’s records show as if there are no concerns about the number of endangered species despite the dwindling habitat for the animals and global warming threat. The number of endangered species listed between 1993 and 2000 under Clinton was 65, whereas it was only 9 under Bush. 6.) Percentage of federal contracts with open competition. Under Bush the contracts have favored companies like Halliburton, KBR and others without any competing proposals. The open competition contracts have dwindled by 11 percent to 33 in 2007. 7.) FBI agents investigating white-collar crimes: The white-collar crimes have increased in magnitude. Despite that rise FBI agents investing the crimes have dropped considerably from 1,722 to 1,097, according to New York Times. 8.) Number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests: They have increased tenfold since September 11. It has increased to 21.8 million according to Department of Justice. 9.) Unemployment rate: The unemployment numbers have gone up considerably especially the last year, when more than 1.5 million jobs were lost. Under Bush, the unemployment rate has increased by 3 percent to 6.7. 10.) Illegal immigrants deported: In 2001, about 110,000 were deported and in 2008, 350,000 illegal immigrants were deported. 11.) Days in office the president spent at their private home or ranch: Ronald Reagan spent 335 days, George Bush spent well over a year away (483 days) from the White House. We will be getting more comprehensive numbers about Bush from other Digital Journal writers soon; it won’t be pretty that is for sure.