ABSTRACT
George H. W. Bush (served 1989-1993) entered the White House in 1989 with a résumé documenting many years of public service. For over two years of his tenure he garnered unusually high public approval ratings, yet when he ran for reelection he suffered a crushing defeat as 62 percent of the electorate, throwing their support toward either Democrat Bill Clinton or independent candidate Ross Perot, concluded that his leadership deficiencies and limited agenda made him poorly equipped to serve a second term. Granted, in 1992 he had been unlucky, stymied, as it were, by a weak economy and a well-run Clinton campaign. Yet critics have wondered whether he, in his leadership endeavors, actually had made the worst of a difficult situation.
