Was George H.W. Bush an incompetent President

[JasonDebenah89]

I read an article which stated that Bush Sr. himself was pretty incompetent when it came to politics and was only elected on Reagan's coattails.

Was he actually incompetent in your opinion based on his term in office (1989-1993)?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

If we're judging political competence by electoral success (or lack thereof), H.W. — who won a whopping total of three (?) general elections in the course of his career — was fairly incompetent, yes. I can't really comment on his abilities as a political operator in office.

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

I don't think he was incompetent at all, but Trump has lowered the bar so much as far as competency that it's hard to say.

[Del Tachi]

He did not have the same knack for personal charisma and campaigning that Ronald Reagan or his son had to be certain, but he had a much more profound understanding of the federal government and the intricacies of power than most Presidents. 

[Lechasseur]

He did not have the same knack for personal charisma and campaigning that Ronald Reagan or his son had to be certain, but he had a much more profound understanding of the federal government and the intricacies of power than most Presidents. 

This

[Mr. Reactionary]

Let's dispel with this fiction that HW didn't know what he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing.

[HillGoose]

no he was kick ass

[All Along The Watchtower]

Not necessarily, but he was still a god-awful one.

[darklordoftech]

Incompetent at charisma, perhaps, but very competent at being President. He helped balance the budget, appointed two supreme court justices, and kicked Iraq out of Kuwait.

[Mr. Smith]

Basically a Republican version of what Hillary would've been if a certain 70,000 votes had gone differently. Take that as you will.

[junior chįmp]

The only competent Republican since the Reagan realignment

[bagelman]

Incompetent is not a word that can be used to describe Bush Sr., even if the competence of elites in general is overstated.

[Young Conservative]

Incompetent is not a word that can be used to describe Bush Sr.

Regardless of politics, he is one of the most accomplished men in history and was exceptionally well prepared for the Presidency.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I don't think New World Order Guy was particularly incompetent, but he obviously sucked at the politics game and only won his first term because everybody thought Willie Horton was on the ballot.

Funny, by the way, how the Horton ad wasn't very effective in West Virginia.

[Lechasseur]

Incompetent at charisma, perhaps, but very competent at being President. He helped balance the budget, appointed two supreme court justices, and kicked Iraq out of Kuwait.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Of course not, that's absurd.  If anything, he was one of the most experienced presidents when it came to politics.  He was a two-term Congressman, a two-time Senate candidate, RNC chair, head of the CIA, and vice president.  His father was also a Senator; though that doesn't count much for him personally, it shows that he was raised in a politically conscious family.

While Reagan's coattails and the general good state of the country certainly helped HW win in 1988, it was far from the only thing that helped him, and he had to fight in order to win.  Dukakis was a weak candidate who made a number of costly mistakes (the tank, the debate question from Bernie Shaw, etc.) and whose record on crime, the environment, and economic issues was vulnerable.

I don't think New World Order Guy was particularly incompetent, but he obviously sucked at the politics game and only won his first term because everybody thought Willie Horton was on the ballot.

Not true, Dukakis made a number of missteps that hurt him almost as much as Willie Horton.  The tank ride was heavily ridiculed both by Republicans and the news media, and his horrendous answer to Bernie Shaw's death penalty question during the debates made him look insensitive.  IIRC, Bush actually took the lead in the polls after the GOP convention, several weeks before the Willie Horton ad first aired.

As for the NWO thing, the "new world order" HW was referring to was the one created by the fall of the Soviet Union, one where the US was the only superpower.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I read an article which stated that Bush Sr. himself was pretty incompetent when it came to politics and was only elected on Reagan's coattails.

Was he actually incompetent in your opinion based on his term in office (1989-1993)?

Was the author of this article a left-winger?