I believe that he failed by trying to be all things to all people. The country was in a recession when he took office and the collapse of the market had dried up the income realized during the later Clinton years from capital gains taxes. His response should have been fiscal conservatism, but instead he choose to go along with wild spending and wide spread earmarks. Had he been willing to pick up his veto pen, much pain could have been prevented. Certainly, had he cracked down of Freddie and Fanny, the mortgage market collapse could have been prevented.