Bush to Blame?

I'll be the first to admit that Bush has made mistakes--all presidents do. But is he to blame for the economic crisis? Or as Obama said:is the crisis the "final verdict" on Bush's policies? In parallel many make fun of the "fact" that we are socializing the losses of the "free market". But if the market was truly "free" then how is Bush to blame? For allowing the free market to function without government intervention? Either we have a totally free market or government policies are to blame. Clearly, government policies that distorted the mortgage market and increased overall debt are to blame. But are they Bush's policies? Clearly not. The government policies that led to this crisis pre-date the Bush administration and Bush has tried to mitigate if not eliminate these policies. We've had two years of a democrat congress for crying out loud and they have been completely MIA on this, except for their constant caterwauling about the dangers of the free market and the boon of socialism.

(People forget about the word "free" in free markets. Free markets are all about personal freedom to pursue happiness. Freedom is meaningless without free markets. Commerce is the biggest part of human activity. We all participate and the more we are constrained in our commerce the less personal liberty we possess. Free markets are not a license to defraud and steal if that in fact occurred. Those are crimes.)