Regarding how the policies (specifically the tax cut) of Bush's administration have affected US debt, which of course, directly impacts the value of the US dollar, the price of oil (since it is priced in US dollars), and the current state of our economy.
Notice in the following chart how over 1/2 of all of the public debt we've accumulated under Bush has been to cover the loss of income to the federal treasury due to Bush's tax cuts. That's money we've BORROWED from the Chinese, Japanese, UK, etc. to cover our own bills.
Look I'm all for keeping taxation as lite as possible for everyone, but this tax cut took us BELOW what we needed just to run our country day to day. I think we should try to match our expenses to our incoming revenues as closely as is reasonable, accounting for the ebb and flow of year to year unpredictabilities. But this is unconscionable.
Further notice how 1/3rd of the national debt has gone to pay for increased "National Security" spending, which is, actually to primarily pay for the war in Iraq. Again, all of this is borrowed money that we as Americans will have to pay off...with interest. There is no free lunch here.
It also weakens us on the world stage in that it's clear the US has NO leverage over the Chinese on human rights, importing tainted goods, Taiwan, etc. We used to be the nation of "walk tall, but carry a big stick". Now we are the country of "please don't call in our notes!" 
Now, even putting aside the fact that the GOP has veto power from the White House for 8 years, and majority control of congress for 12 years, you'll see that the part of this actually under congress's direct control is only 16% (entitlements and other domestic spending). And even that was entirely on the GOP agenda as they controlled the heads of all committees and determined which legislation would face a vote and which would not - the right of the majority party.
Finally, this is all BEFORE the current economic collapse. That's added another $1 - 2.5 trillion added to this debt, depending on when you start counting bank and Wall Street bailouts. And it wasn't congress's idea to bailout the banks. It was Paulson's and I remember Bush getting on the air to tell us how afraid we need to be that very next morning.
Fortunately, the American people FREAKED with an unprecidented negative response barrage and that forced congress to add strings and conditions (like, "hey, we want to be paid back or we own you") to the second attempt at passing the bill.
So if the bailout debt is considered, Bush's policies of the tax cut + preemptive war in iraq + bailout means that his administration's responsbility for the fix our nation finds itself in is even greater that this chart indicates.
So where on this chart do we blame the tax and spend liberals rather than the supposedly small government, spend within your means conservatives? Maybe, just maybe, the parties have switched here.
While I may be socially liberal (and believe in Universal Healthcare and equal rights for all) I am fiscally conservative. By eliminating the Bush tax cut and ending the Iraq War, our nation will only be approaching ZERO. We're not talking surplusses here. We're all fighting about how do we just get this nation back on budget! 
Breakdown of debt incurred between 2001 and 2006.[52]
image and citation courtesy of wikipedia from public government sources.
Recent additions to U.S. public debt
Fiscal year (begins
10/01 of prev. year) | Value | % of GDP |
| 2001 |
$144.5 billion |
1.4% |
| 2002 |
$409.5 billion |
3.9% |
| 2003 |
$589.0 billion |
5.5% |
| 2004 |
$605.0 billion |
5.3% |
| 2005 |
$523.0 billion |
4.3% |
| 2006 |
$536.5 billion |
4.1% |
| 2007 |
$459.5 billion |
3.4% |
| 2008 |
$962.0 billion |
(proj.) 6.8% |
