Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Misunderestimator
Watching "The Choice" on PBS, the narrator argues, correctly, that conventional wisdom predicted that George W. Bush would govern like his father did--from the middle. In fact, this conventional wisdom was not just held by reporters but also by political scientists who study the presidency.
Reporters, who relied on these political scientists and their dominant view of presidential power, suggested that a President who wins by a slim majority--or even worse, did not win the popular vote at all--would have very little politlcal capital and thus would have to exert massive bargaining and persuading skills with the Congress in order to get anything done. And any piece of the president's legislative program would need to be bargained away in order to get it through the Congress.
But the blindness totally missed the reasons why the Bush administration moved as aggressively as it did. In yesterday's "Washington Post," Dana Milbank details how the Vice President has amassed tremendous power in a way that defies the conventional wisdom regarding the role of the vice-presidency. A month ago, I outlined the reservoir of power from which the Bush administration draws from, and how it can explain the actions taken, in particular, by it in areas ranging from sanctioning torture to influencing the regulatory process.
Yet journalists, and frankly many of my colleagues, are awe struck at any new action that this administration takes. And further, they foolishly believe that if he wants to succeed in a second term, he will certainly have to govern more from the middle. Or they believe he is crazy.
If you want to get a handle on how Bush governs, first understand the playbook from which he studies.
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Reporters, who relied on these political scientists and their dominant view of presidential power, suggested that a President who wins by a slim majority--or even worse, did not win the popular vote at all--would have very little politlcal capital and thus would have to exert massive bargaining and persuading skills with the Congress in order to get anything done. And any piece of the president's legislative program would need to be bargained away in order to get it through the Congress.
But the blindness totally missed the reasons why the Bush administration moved as aggressively as it did. In yesterday's "Washington Post," Dana Milbank details how the Vice President has amassed tremendous power in a way that defies the conventional wisdom regarding the role of the vice-presidency. A month ago, I outlined the reservoir of power from which the Bush administration draws from, and how it can explain the actions taken, in particular, by it in areas ranging from sanctioning torture to influencing the regulatory process.
Yet journalists, and frankly many of my colleagues, are awe struck at any new action that this administration takes. And further, they foolishly believe that if he wants to succeed in a second term, he will certainly have to govern more from the middle. Or they believe he is crazy.
If you want to get a handle on how Bush governs, first understand the playbook from which he studies.
