Was George W Bush really as dumb as he looked?

Widely derided as the very worst President in American history, will the passing of time make us look more kindly on those blank, bewildered features?

Have we - in Dubya's own immortal phrase - misunder estimated him?

History has a way of radically altering the image of American Presidents. Lyndon Johnson, reviled in his day for the escalation of the Vietnam War, is now best remembered for pushing through Civil Rights legislation.

Ronald Reagan, despised as a simple version of Doctor Strangelove during his administration, is now grudgingly admired for his stance against Communism.

Even Nixon - scourge of the hippies, carpetbomber of South-East Asia, the dark hand behind Watergate - is viewed more sympathetically and seen as a deeply flawed, even tragic figure, rather than the murderous crook the world took him for at the time.

Will we start missing George Bush once he has gone? They will miss him in Africa, where a year ago thousands of adoring fans lined the streets to cheer him.

It is a difficult fact for Bush-haters to swallow, but during the eight years of the Dubya regime, America spent Û18billion (£12.4billion) on AIDS prevention, Û1.2billion (£850million) to prevent malaria and gave Û3.5billion (£2.4billion) to African nations that govern well, provide social services and encourage economic growth.

Of course this is small change compared to the Û850billion (£583billion) he has spent on his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a figure currently rising by Û13.6billion (£9.3billion) every month. Add in extra costs, such as payouts to the families of dead soldiers, and estimates put the total bill at three times that.

But all across Africa, even in Muslim countries, George is worshipped. In Darfur, many couples name their baby boys George Bush.

"The Bush regime has been divisive - created bitterness - but not here in Africa," Bob Geldof has written. "Here, his administration has saved millions of lives."

With projects like his President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Bush administration has ensured that, for millions of Africans, from the townships of South Africa to the backstreets of Rwanda, HIV is no longer a death sentence.

If anything rescues George Bush from the dustbin of history, it will be his work in Africa.

And yet Africa is not the world.

George Bush's lifeline for millions in the Third World proves that blanket, unequivocal condemnation of his Presidency is as simple-minded as that little, pea-brained smile that played across his features when he wasn't sure what was going on. Which was most of the time.

But there is also no denying his Presidency has made millions more despise the US. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Africa will emerge from the darkness into the light and history will record that George Bush did far more practical good than Bill Clinton or Bono ever did.

But what about the misery he created in the rest of the world?

When he ducked those shoes in Iraq, his wife loyally said that George was "a natural athlete". But to most of us he always looked like a natural simpleton, a rich man's son who got to the Oval Office on his daddy's shirttails, the global village idiot.

In truth, anti-Americanism is always thriving in large parts of the planet because for most of the 20th Century, the USA was the richest, most powerful nation the world has ever seen. But George Bush gave the world good reasons to hate America. He has been a far more effective recruiting agent for Islamic terrorism than Osama bin Laden.

With his clumsy, murderous war in Iraq, Bush made anti-Americanism a global sport. Even those of us who love America have despaired of the country under George Bush's watch.

The best things about America - its generosity, its sense of limitless possibility, the profound belief in freedom that sent Americans to fight and die in Europe in two world wars - has been replaced by a seething paranoia and murderous belligerence.

When the planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, almost all of the world was on America's side. It is to George Bush's eternal shame that he squandered that goodwill. Incredibly, on a day when we watched 3,000 people murdered on live TV, George Bush somehow contrived to make the USA look like an aggressor.

Bush seemed too stupid to be President. Saddam Hussein has nothing to do with 9/11, and yet Bush and his neocon cronies wanted to make an example of someone with a beard.

Iraq, for all its murder and torture, was a largely secular state. Saddam wanted to be the god Iraqis worshipped. But Bush - and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney - turned Iraq into a seething hotbed of militant Islamic terrorism. And for that, history will never forgive him.

Perhaps the great mystery of George Bush is this: he was not only stupid, but empty.

The very worst forces of America - warmongers, religious nutters, and raving nationalists - swarmed around him and painted their fantasies on his blank canvas.

Lawrence Wilkinson, a top aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell - a good man who was shamefully duped into believing the great lie that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction - said: "Dick Cheney knew that he was going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush. Personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum."

In many ways, Bush was a luckless President. 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the global economic meltdown all happened on his watch. That's an awful lot of world shattering events to have sitting in your in-tray, but with a gritty, shrewd response, Bush could have seized greatness.

However, the Texan twit was never made for greatness.

9/11 produced unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The citizens of New Orleans were left to rot in the rising waters of Katrina. And the casino capitalism of the sub-prime mortgage fiasco flourished under his regime, while the response of Dubya's Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, seemed slow and inadequate until he followed the lead of Gordon Brown. George Bush never missed an opportunity to do the wrong thing.

He had his followers, the "USA! USA!" chanters who acted as though the war on terror was a basketball match there to be won if they just shouted loud enough.

But even these chubby patriots have shuffled off now, worried about losing their homes, their jobs and their shirts, and his approval rating has slumped to an almost nonexistent 27 per cent.

Which makes George Bush, at the end of his two terms as President of the United States, only slightly more popular in Biloxi than he is in Baghdad.

They will miss George Bush in dozens of African countries, but the rest of the world will be glad to see him ride off into the sunset.

During the 20th Century America was the richest, most powerful nation in the world. George Bush reminded us that the 20th Century is over. Here was a 10th-rate President for a nation in decline, which still acted like the biggest bully in the playground.

"Goodbye from the world's greatest polluter!" was how Bush wittily bid farewell at his final G-8 summit - a wonderful example of the man in all his belligerent stupidity.

Under Bush, America lost its moral authority and it will take a lot to get it back.

The world will not forgive the images of sadistic redneck trash posing for their photos in the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib.

Nor will the world forget how America's love of "freedom" saw nothing hypocritical about locating Guantanamo Bay far from American soil and far from American laws.

And these were supposed to be the good guys.

Graham Greene's classic novel The Quiet American features an ugly American abroad who firmly believes he is doing good, for his own country and for the world, even as everything he touches turns to ashes.

George Bush was just like that, but on a global, epic scale. For here was the ugliest American of all, who could have united the world after 9/11, but who instead tore it apart.

Warmongers, raving nationalists and religious nutters painted their fantasies on his blank canvas

Here was a tenth rate President for a nation in decline still acting like the biggest bully in the playground

Read Mirror.co.uk's round up of his worst gaffes

Dubya's highs & lows

January 2001

Sworn in after beating Al Gore in Florida, where brother Jeb is governor, amid claims votes for his rival were not counted.

Sept 11 2001

Told of attacks during visit to a school.

Oct 7, 2001

Us and UK attack Taliban in Afghanistan.

Jan 2002

First prisoners arrive at Guantanamo Bay. Names Iran, Iraq, and North Korea the "axis of evil".

March 2003

Us missiles hit Baghdad as invasion starts. On May 1, he proclaims: "Mission accomplished."

April 2004

News of abuse by US troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq emerges.

Sept 2005

Accepts blame for slow rescue after Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans.

July 2006

Greets PM with words "Yo Blair!" at G8 summit.

March 2008

Death toll of US troops in Iraq is 4,000. In September he presides over financial meltdown.

Jan 2009

Has the lowest approval rating ever recorded.