US Voters agree George W Bush left Barack Obama with a mess

John Bolton: US Voters agree George W Bush left Barack Obama with a mess

American voters agree with President Barack Obama's claim that he inherited "a mess" from George W. Bush, according to John Bolton, one of Mr Bush's best-known former colleagues.

John Bolton said, when faced with the prospect of re-electing Mr Obama, 'people are saying OK, you inherited a mess, well what have you done to fix it?'  Photo: Reuters

By Jon Swaine, Dallas

7:18PM BST 30 May 2012

John Bolton, Mr Bush's ambassador to the United Nations, said it would not be helpful for the Republicans to more vigorously defend the former president's record, which Democrats have sharply criticised.

Mr Bolton urged Mitt Romney, the party's nominee to face Mr Obama in November, to focus on the future and resist arguing over whether their last president left behind "a big mess or a little mess".

His remarks came as Mr Bush prepared to return to the White House for only the second time since leaving office in January 2009, for the unveiling of his official portrait.

"I think people would agree with Obama that he was left with a mess," Mr Bolton told The Daily Telegraph. "They're not arguing about that, and that's why it doesn't pay for Romney to argue whether it was a big mess or a little mess.

Instead, Mr Bolton said, when faced with the prospect of re-electing Mr Obama, "people are saying OK, you inherited a mess, well what have you done to fix it?"

The former UN envoy praised Mr Bush's decision to stay out of politics since leaving Washington, and said that his standing would "get better and better" as time elapsed.

"Most Americans, when they vote for president, treat it as a question of looking forward," he said. "So from Romney's point of view there's no real point in re-arguing the Bush presidency. It ought to be on whether Obama has been successful".
Mr Obama has in recent weeks heaped blame on his predecessor for bestowing the current administration with what he now claims were too many problems in foreign and economic policy to deal with in a single term.

"Hillary and I, we've spent the last three and a half years cleaning up after other folks' messes," Mr Obama told a fund-raiser last month. Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser to Mr Obama, said that Mr Romney's campaign could be summarised as: "You didn't clean up our mess fast enough".
Andrew Card, Mr Bush's former White House chief of staff, said that the tactic "doesn't seem very presidential". Mr Card said: "Most presidents take office and recognise that they have a job to do, and respect their predecessors".
A recent CNN poll found 56 per cent of voters continued to blame Mr Bush and the Republicans for the country's economic problems, while only 29 per cent blamed Mr Obama and the Democrats. Only Richard Nixon ranked lower than Mr Bush in a Gallup poll on the last eight presidents earlier this year.