The Elder Bush did not waste his political capital, he spent it very wisely. By limiting the scope of the first Gulf War to stopping the stranglehold Saddam was attempting on the region, he ensured wide domestic and foreign support, even among normally hostile Arab states like Syria. The Syrians and even (dig at SDAI!) the French, fought alongside us. At the time, it appeared he wasn't "finishing the job", but I think he understood that without these concessions we might have wound up in the same spot we're in now, or perhaps nothing at all would have happened. I think GHWB will be seen as one of our great Presidents.

Going it alone to ensure our interests alone is what has gotten us into the mess we're in now, which even if it doesn't turn out to be catastrophic, will always be seen as a strategic, if not tactical, defeat for the US. I do not blame Bush the Younger for not seeing this. As you all know, I too supported the war at first, seeing it as an end run and a geopolitical coup, not to mention that at the time I too was still frustrated by the outrage and humiliation of 9/11 and I really wanted to see ordnance raining down on those bastards.

The failure to properly evaluate the evidence was overanxiousness, the refusal to accept advice and properly plan was incompetence, but I would be lying if I claimed now I would have been immune to those errors at the time. But the inability to change tactics was political opportunism, hubris and arrogance bred of a fundamentally flawed and corrupt ideology, and the refusal to even admit error when it became obvious so early on was criminal negligence, and simply unforgiveable.