The scariest thing about Don’t Look Up is that as absurd as it is, it barely exaggerates. Much of our political elite are just as greedy and foolish, our media just as vapid, and our response to impending disaster exactly as mind-bogglingly irrational as in the movie.
I think you make a good point. I was a kid during Bush Jr so my memory/analysis could be too presentist. We won't know because it's impossible to go back in time and check though.