From the Telegraph.

I'm beginning to think that opposition to Bush has reached a nearly religious level, an attitude separated from any real actions, policies, or events. The economy is growing, arguably due to Bush's tax policies. We defeated two dictatorships that posed a threat to us and our allies, and have made some progress in the few months since in rebuilding them.

Yet otherwise intelligent people look me straight in the eye and say Bush is the worst president to ever occupy the Oval Office in the history of the nation. That's quite a statement, historically. I'm beginning to think he's getting more hostility than Reagan did.

I remember Reagan getting all the crap for doing all the Wrong Things, in economics and foreign policy, even when they later turned out to be exactly right. No one will admit that now, and to hear a lot of people talk, Gorbachev ended the Cold War singlehandedly, apparently having just woken up one morning after a century of dictatorship and conquest, and deciding it was the right thing to do. Quick, give that man a Nobel Prize.

There's something psychological in all this. The article discusses it from the point of view of British attitudes. How does one explain it for Americans?