Bush Advisers Expect 'I Told You So' Legacy

As they assess his legacy, White House advisers are more confident than ever that historians will eventually see the wisdom of President Bush's most controversial policies, even if Congress wouldn't go along during his time in office. In fact, a senior administration official says Bush will be known for leading the "I-told-you-so presidency."

Among the areas where he will be proved correct, the official adds, are Social Security, for which he pushed partial privatization but was rebuffed by Congress, and immigration, where he advocated a stronger border security and a "path to citizenship" for illegal workers but was also rejected.

"These problems will be much tougher to solve in the future," the aids tells U.S. News, arguing that the country would have been far better off if all sides had accepted Bush's ideas when he first proposed them. Similarly, Bush and his advisers are confident that history will view the invasion of Iraq as a wise move that eventually brought stability to the region. The senior official predicted that "people will realize he was right on a lot of these fronts."

—Kenneth T. Walsh