Americans point finger of shame at George W. Bush
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Here's some encouraging news: Many Americans understand that former President George W. Bush and his Republican administration played a major role in creating the nation's current financial mess.

In fact, a new poll shows the Obama administration is held far less responsible by the American people -- despite months of demagoguery by the GOP.

As part of a longer series of questions, The New York Times/CBS News poll asked this:

"Who do you blame most for the economy?"

-- 31 percent faulted the Bush administration.

-- only 7 percent faulted Obama and his administration.

The other causes lined up pretty much as you would think, with Wall Street being blamed by 23 percent of respondents, Congress by 13 percent and all of them by 19 percent.