After years of hilariously scrambling his words, almost the last act of George Walker Bush's presidency was to very publicly eat them, when the ideological free marketeer announced that the United States government was intervening in the economy to the tune of US$ 700 billion to bail out failed Wall Street Banks.

Appealing to Congress to back the rescue plan Bush said, "I'm a strong believer in free enterprise, so my natural instinct is to oppose government intervention," he said. But "these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly. Without immediate action by Congress, America can slip into a major panic"

But the farce continued as the bailout package was rejected by Congress with some members of the President's Republican Party characterizing it as a step towards Marxist socialism. Congress was, of course, sent back to vote again until it got the right answer.

The collapse of Wall Street and the ensuing world recession will be seen by many as putting the cap on a disastrous two terms in office for the former Texas governor who despite the southern twang, like his father President George HW Bush, came from old Eastern money. Bush's rule saw the invasion of Iraq, followed by six years of war so far, the scandals of Abu Ghraib, water boarding and extraordinary rendition, and the running sore of the Guantanamo detention centre.

The economic crisis ensured that fellow-Republican John McCain was heavily defeated by Barack Obama in the Presidential election, and with the Democratic Party controlling both houses of Congress, Bush's legacy to his fellow Republicans is likely to be years in the political wilderness.

(China.org.cn by John Sexton, November 13, 2008)