A President cannot always be popular

Historians, beginning to examine Bush's legacy, note that the 43rd president could end up with a better reputation down the road -- something that happened to Harry Truman. At different points in his presidency, Truman earned some of the highest and the lowest public approval ratings in history: 87 percent approval in June 1945 vs. 23 percent approval in January 1952, according to a CNN analysis of polling at the time. Truman, who is often noted for his upset victory over Thomas Dewey in 1948, faced several domestic and foreign policy problems throughout his term in office, which lasted from 1945-1953. Most notably: The Korean War, World War II and later, Cold War relations with an aggressive Soviet Union. "One of the things that has been conventionally done is to compare George W. Bush to Harry Truman, both of whom had upon leaving office dismal approval ratings and of course as it is well known by now, Harry Truman's reputation has, by virtually every account, not only improved, but I would say escalated nearly to the top of the list of greater American presidents," Kellerman added. [article from CNN.com]

It will be interesting to see what happens to George W. Bush's legacy over time. One of my favorite US Presidents of all time is Harry Truman. Like Bush he left office with a low approval rating with even most of his own party turned against him. Time has helped improve and showcase his actual value to the country. I wonder what historians will say about W given enough time to evaluate everything. Easy to hate now, might be easy to like down the road.