When all is said and done, what will be said to have defined the Bush Administration? Whether external actions that merited response, the responses themselves, or even the changing facets of society itself, it seems hardly likely but that there will be something emerging. So what will it be?
Bush started out with a liberal domestic agenda - education (no child left behind), corporate governance, energy, and so on. Seemed like they were looking for something to do after keeping the 5 promises made during the campaign. Then came 9/11 and Bush clearly defined the rest of his presidency with the war on terror. People may look back at the last 2 years of his presidency as quite successful. Aside from the surge, he has been able to pretty much get what he wants passed through the democrat controlled congress. As well, he's had foreign policy successes in Iran (they killed their nuke weapon program in 2003), Syria, Lybia, and North Korea. There will be plenty of people who will remember him as a divisive leader.
Definitely 9/11 as well as the divisiveness of his resulting foreign policy. Not only did it split the US along intense lines, but the rest of the world also found itself dividing along the same issues.
From what I've been hearing from people both in this government and elsewhere, there are a lot of issues with that document, in terms of content, method of data collection, and virtually everything else.
That's what is really bothering people. Nobody knows, though speculation ranges from some imminent political deal being brokered with Iran to a classic case of the State Department doing whatever the hell it wants. I think some political games are going on in the back rooms, and wouldn't be surprised to find it all connected to the President's current trip to the Middle East.
There's something to be said for us dealing from a position of strength. All the ratcheted up rhetoric from the West and particularly the US may well have kept them in line. Though it'd still be a terrific idea to support their nuclear power (peaceful use) program by having the Russians providing them with fuel for their reactors and also to have some sort of inspections regime in place.
