The republican talking point that began right away was that Putin would never had moved into the Ukraine under Bush. Considering Putin had no problem moving into and claiming part of Georgia, it sheds light on the motivations of said talking point. One could only imagine if it had been Obama that had gazed into Putin's eyes and saw his spiritual brother?
Last Sunday I watched Face the Nation host a whole slew of republicans with variations of the same talking point. It was surreal seeing Charlie Rose ask Cheney of all people about the President's credibility. Trying to generalize the media as carrying water for Obama is obviously and demonstratively untrue.
Putting aside for a moment whether or not the media is in the tank for Obama on this one, how would address WB's other, more relevant, point:
We are already beyond that in Ukraine. Bush flew back combat-tested Ukrainian soldiers to Georgia, and that is the point that Russia halted its advance. The U.S. took other supportive measures to back Georgia short of all-out war, as Cheney has said in interviews in recent weeks.
But as I said, Bush overall took a firm military/diplomatic stance in his 8 years, and it was only when he was leaving as president that Russia ventured into military action. Even so, Bush implemented policies that halted Russian advance, short of taking fuerther territory in Georgia.
If WB is accurate, that would seem to demonstrate that Bush handled a similar crisis with Russia better than Obama.
