Bush's Three Strikes and You're Out Legacy

Perhaps because George W. Bush was once part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, it's fitting that his presidential administration's legacy will most likely be remembered by the baseball metaphor Three Strikes and You're Out.

Incompetency will be the overriding theme most historians will use to describe George Bush #43.

1. Strike One was the incompetency exhibited during Hurricane Katrina.


2. Strike Two was the incompetency demonstrated by his prosecution of the war in Iraq.


3. Strike Three will be felt most profoundly in the future due to the incompetency manifested by the reckless budget deficits and trade deficits racked up under Bush's watch.

Over time, Strike Two will be seen as far worse than Strike One, and Strike Three will be, by far, the worst of all. The American government simply cannot continue to spend more money than it collects in taxes and the American economy cannot continue to indefinitely import more than it exports.

Under the law, three strikes has come to mean mandatory imprisonment for someone convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. From the purview of history, three strikes means Bush will be remembered as one of the most awful presidents America has ever had. It's hard to imagine that any of his predecessors have either been more incompetent or done more lasting damage.