RESOLVED: George Bush should be regarded as America's best President

I understand that my Opponent is yet to present his argument on this subject. Although it may be difficult to argue against such broad contentions as those presented by him, I am happy to begin the debate by presenting an opening argument and attempting to refute his argument outright. For the purposes of this debate, there are 5 broad contentions presented by the Pro debater. 1.President Bush has never faultered [sic] in his existence 2.President Bush is a role model to the world 3.The country he leads is the greatest nation 4.He is leading it to "unimaginable prosperity" 5.He defines benevolence 1. In respect to the first point (that Bush has never faultered in his existence) I seek some clarification. Is it suggested that he has never faltered (hesitated) or that he has never faulted? 2. That George W Bush is a role model to the world is, to say the least, questionable. His own people certainly do not appear to think so. One only need look at his historical approval ratings. Starting at around 50, followed by a big spike on 9/11 (other than the spectacular intelligence failure allowing 9/11 to take place, he had really no input into the situation and his immediate reaction was the same as any leader's would be), then declining again, reaching some 75 in a brief peak at the outbreak of the Iraq war, then again followed by a steady decline all the way to around 30. Source: http://www.hist.umn.edu... Thus, as far as his popularity goes, he has received two boosts in a very unpopular presidential career. The first one resulted from an attack on his country; an attack that followed his own administration's intelligence failure. The second spike was caused by his attack against a sovereign country on the pretense of the somewhat illusive and elusive Weapons of Mass Destruction (another impresssive intelligence failure). In fact, his recent low approval ratings have only ever been beaten by Truman, Nixon and Carter. Other than the spectacularly low approval ratings, Mr Bush holds the claim to misleading the world on the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq and claiming (somewhat prematurely, to say the least) a victory in Iraq. These are of course but few examples of a much longer list of failures. 3. The USA is the greatest nation This may be simply an expression of patriotism on part of the Pro debater. However, in case it is not, I will only point out that this issue is not relevant to the proposition he seeks to prove. The question of whether the USA is the greatest nation simply has no bearing on the issue of weather or not George W Bush is America's best president. That is unless my Opponent proposes to argue that it was in fact George W Bush who made it into the greatest nation. If in fact that is the case, I will be more than happy to present an argument that the USA is far from being the greatest nation in the world and that it would almost certainly have been a better nation without Mr Bush's stint in the Oval Office. However before elaborating on this, I will patiently await some clarification on this issue. 4. Unimaginable prosperity There are many factors that may be considered when determining levels of prosperity. Some of the more important ones are in the area of economics. Time for some statistics. a) Household income According to the US Census, between 2001 and 2007 the lowest, second and third fifths of households in the USA have in fact sustained a reduction in yearly household income (based on figures adjusted for inflation). The Fourth and the highest fifths were the only ones to experience growth. In other words, during Mr Bush's presidency, the poor have become poorer and very few rich have become richer. Of those top two fifths, the average growth was $2,500 per annum (the fourth "fifth") and $800 per annum (the top "fifth"). Hardly prosperity, one might say. b) People living in poverty In 2001, 6,813,000 families lived below the poverty line. This compares with 7,623,000 in 2007. This represents a jump of 11%. The population of the USA between 2000 and 2007 grew from 281 mln to 301 mln. This represents an increase of 7% (arguably even lower if the 2001 figures were used). What this means is that the number of poor Americans per head of population has in fact grown during Mr Bush's term. Source: US Census c) Crime Crime per 100,000 of population has grown from 2145.5 in 2001 to 2471.3 in 2007. This figure also includes a jump from 2.4 to 3.4 in homicide. Source: http://www.sjpd.org... --- FBI crime statistics Again, these are only some examples of a much longer list of rather impressive signs of what can only be defined as something of a downfall in the general well-being of Americans. 5) He defines benevolence The word "benevolence" is a concept related to charity, goodwill, forgiveness and generosity. It is a term often used to describe a person of good heart. With all respect, for the life of me, I cannot see any relevance of this to the suggestion that George W. Bush is America's best president. Some clarification would be appreciated before a further discussion can ensue. Final remark This leaves just one point. If my Opponent simply claims that George W Bush is America's best president because he is currently America's only president, then sadly I must concede the argument.