POLITICAL DISCOURSE: FALSE CHOICES FROM 30,000 FEET

Whether discussing foreign affairs or domestic policy the discourse on the status of the Presidency is essentially the same every where.  On the one hand, it's "Bush was an idiot.  He deviated our resources, diluted our freedoms and caused us to be viewed as a hostile by most of the world.  His was a terrible Presidency."  On the other hand "Obama's a terrible president.  He tries to do too many things at once.  He turns economic functions over to the Government.  He decides important things too slowly.  He is not attuned to the deficit and people around the world don't respect us because we're too weak."

From that menu: we're supposed to pick one.  

But maybe we have the answer sheet wrong.  Maybe the critics of both guys are right.  Maybe in the rear view mirror it'll become clear we have had two unsuccessful presidencies in a row.  Why do I have to chose.  I can be unhappy with both of them.