RepoMan
10-07-2008, 01:33 AM
Boo-yah. Finally the hammer comes down (http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12341613). About time too.
The crisis underlined Mr Bush’s two biggest personal weaknesses—his leaden tongue and his indecisiveness. He failed to explain in simple language that a crisis on Wall Street also means a crisis on Main Street. The self-styled decider was also singularly lacking in decisiveness. He handed responsibility for the bail-out to a technocrat, his treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, but then failed to provide him with the necessary political backup. He started lobbying legislators only days before the vote. He failed to travel to Capitol Hill to make a personal appeal to Congress. Worse still, he wasted political capital on a farcical photo-op meeting in the White House with the presidential candidates. Mr Clinton would have done things a lot better....
This succession of failures is a verdict on Mr Bush’s leadership style. The Bush administration has been defined by two things—ruthless partisanship and an iron commitment to presidential power. In his first term Mr Bush pushed through a conservative agenda of huge tax cuts and a war against Iraq despite the fact that he had the narrowest of mandates. In his re-election bid in 2004 he relied on supercharging the conservative base rather than reaching out to middle-of-the-road voters....
The most damning verdict on Mr Bush this week came not from the Democrats but from the 133 Republicans who decided to vote against a Republican administration. Mr Bush devoted much of his energy as president to forging a lasting Republican majority. But over the past four years conservatives have turned against him on everything from immigration reform to financial management. Far from creating a hegemonic party, Mr Bush leaves the Republicans in the worst state they have been in for decades; riven by divisions, confused about their identity and facing Armageddon at the ballot box.
Damn, that last phrase is sweet like candy. November 4th can't come soon enough.
The crisis underlined Mr Bush’s two biggest personal weaknesses—his leaden tongue and his indecisiveness. He failed to explain in simple language that a crisis on Wall Street also means a crisis on Main Street. The self-styled decider was also singularly lacking in decisiveness. He handed responsibility for the bail-out to a technocrat, his treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, but then failed to provide him with the necessary political backup. He started lobbying legislators only days before the vote. He failed to travel to Capitol Hill to make a personal appeal to Congress. Worse still, he wasted political capital on a farcical photo-op meeting in the White House with the presidential candidates. Mr Clinton would have done things a lot better....
This succession of failures is a verdict on Mr Bush’s leadership style. The Bush administration has been defined by two things—ruthless partisanship and an iron commitment to presidential power. In his first term Mr Bush pushed through a conservative agenda of huge tax cuts and a war against Iraq despite the fact that he had the narrowest of mandates. In his re-election bid in 2004 he relied on supercharging the conservative base rather than reaching out to middle-of-the-road voters....
The most damning verdict on Mr Bush this week came not from the Democrats but from the 133 Republicans who decided to vote against a Republican administration. Mr Bush devoted much of his energy as president to forging a lasting Republican majority. But over the past four years conservatives have turned against him on everything from immigration reform to financial management. Far from creating a hegemonic party, Mr Bush leaves the Republicans in the worst state they have been in for decades; riven by divisions, confused about their identity and facing Armageddon at the ballot box.
Damn, that last phrase is sweet like candy. November 4th can't come soon enough.