> But of course the Bush Administration has been as successful, perhaps
> more so, than any administration in my memory, except perhaps for the
> first Truman Administration, which established the parameters for world
> affairs for the next 50 years.
Your opinion, though, is shared by neither the US's closest allies nor it's adversaries in Iran, Venezuela, Russia, China, and elsewhere. They believe the Bush administration's adventure in Iraq has seriously weakened US political influence and exposed the limits of its military power and that it's domestic policies have contributed to the gravest threat to the capitalist system since the great depression.
Why do suppose they are all so obtuse? This is not something ao easily explained by the baleful effect of the Democratic party.
The global indictment of the Bush administration is evidently shared by 80% of Americans polled by the Pew Foundation who had a negative view of the direction in which the administration was leading the country. The legitimacy of the US political system has never been at a lower ebb.
This is a far cry from the Truman era when when the postwar economic boom was in full swing and there was a strong bipartisan and popular consensus in favour of the US's aggressive new Cold War foreign policy.