Amos:

FDR signed Executive Order 9066 which incarcerated 110,000 Japanese Americans, 68,000 of the ctizens, solely on a racial basis. They had no writ of habeas corpus as described in the constitution. What were the charges? Where were thier lawyers? How many of them had a trial or hearing?

I think this is outside of your discription of a desirable president:
"forthright President who lived within and under the law, lead by example rather than by decree, protected and defended the Constitution rather than an elite base"

But you are right that Bush did not round up 110,000 people living in the US based on their race and put them in detention camps.

Do you think he should have?