*Conscious misrepresentations that are more usual, if not accepted, in a campaign have continued during Bush’s governing... and as a result good facts have become obscured and confused with mis-directions, misrepresentations and spin.... And to such an extent that people in the administration sometimes even seem to believe their own spin. A prime example of intentional misrepresentations is the understating of the cost of the new Medicare Prescription Bill by $100 billion, and the refusal to “score” the costs of the Iraq war. An example of believing one’s own spin is Son Bush’s saying his Iraq war coalition is larger than his father’s.
*Good politics is very different than good government -- and can lead to extremely poor choices. For example, politics played a major role in outing Victoria Plume as a clandestine CIA agent, and in publicizing the predator attack on terrorists in Yemen that greatly embarrassed and upset both Qatar and Yemen officials.
*Rewarding contributors also frequently conflicts with good public policy. For example, while raising the gas tax is the surest and fastest way to reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil, that is an anathema to many of Bush’s contributors. “If the Bush administration is homecoming weekend for the energy industry, Dick Cheney’s task force report is the pregame tailgate party. Not since the rise of the railroads more than a century ago has a single industry placed so many foot soldiers at the top of a new administration.... Industry leaders who dumped $22.5 million into GOP coffers in the last election – enjoyed constant contact with the task force.... No one has enjoyed better access than Enron CEO Ken Lay, who recently had dinner with his good friend the president.” Newsweek 5/14/01
*Appealing to Son Bush’s political bases also can conflict with good public policy. For example, to appease the NRA Bush’s Attorney General broke with all former administrations by holding that the Second Amendment granted an “individual” vs a “collective” right to bear arms, and his administration opposed the Small Arms Treaty, allowed the Assault weapon ban to expire, and backed the repeal of most of the gun laws in the District of Columbia; in the first 48 hours after his Inauguration Bush appeased the anti-abortion lobby by issuing an executive order banning U.S. aid to international family-planning groups that provide abortion counseling, and later banned US funds for embryonic stem-cell research which “can revolutionize medicine more than anything since antibiotics.” And his $1.1 billion disbursed to “faith-based” groups was given exclusively to Christian groups.
*Perpetual campaign mode also includes demonizing anyone who disagrees. Certainly calling those who disagree unpatriotic also shapes what information his staff is willing to bring to him. And morphing a picture of Max Cleland who lost 3 limbs in Viet Nam, into Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and saying anyone who questions the amount of tax cut benefit going to those in the highest income brackets is “engaging in class warfare” only works to obscure the real facts, and limit not just considering all sides, but hearing them in the first place.
*Perpetual campaign mode also means relentless and ruthless attempts to spin the media. While all administrations try to control their press, rarely has it been this extreme or effective. For example if Karl Rove didn't like what he saw on NBC, he didn’t call NBC News, he calls the CEO of NBC Universal -- and the calls are not pleasant. Obviously, this has a chilling effect on the media and reduces the amount of good information the citizens have make an informed choice. Another example is Rove’s largely successful attempts to prevent pictures of coffins returning from Iraq.
*It also means all public appearances are staged and managed like a campaign rally, with friendly crowds, and even props like the fake turkey Bush showed on his surprise visit to Iraq, and making the aircraft carrier Bush landed on to announce "Mission Accomplished" turn so the California coast wasn’t visible in the background. It also means he rarely has press conferences – and reporters are asked to submit their questions in advance. “We’ll answer questions in the tradition of democratic societies.” GW Bush opening a press conference with Afghan president Hamid Karzai. Son Bush has had just 15 solo news conferences during his presidency, the last a 13 minute session at his Texas ranch. His father by comparison had 83 solo press conferences. Mr. Kerry promised if elected to hold at least one press conference a month. Washington Post 9/20/04 Obviously, avoiding press conferences also allows him to avoid unwelcome facts and contrary arguments. See our Webpage that proposes a “Question Hour” or more frequent press conferences to bring immediate and substantial benefits to our system.
*And finally it also encourages language that is more belligerent than smart. No one likes a bully but that’s exactly how Son Bush “being Bush” sounds as he appeals to his base. “Only someone who hasn’t seen war firsthand would ever say anything as fatuous as ‘bring ‘em on.’” Wesley Clark during the primary campaign.
“When asked if not allowing the countries that had not supported the war on Iraq to bid on $20 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq squared with international law, GW with an edge of sarcasm said: “International law? I better call my lawyer. He didn’t bring that up to me.” “Such swagger played well with Red State America, but it left the diplomats wringing their hands. White House aides shrugged off the president’s blurt as a case of Bush being Bush.” Newsweek, 12/22/03
And even when Son Bush’s instincts are right, he has trouble escaping the constrictions of little knowledge and a heavy reliance on ideology, politics, and those around him. For example, when he asked if they hadn’t done enough tax cuts for the top people and shouldn’t they do more for the middle class, Cheney jumped in and said “Reagan proved deficits didn’t matter,” and “we won the mid-term elections and this was our due,” while Karl Rove kept chanting “stick to principle, stick to principle.” Paul O’Neill was astounded because Regan proved the opposite, i.e. deficits do count and hurt the economy and country. But also did Cheney just mean that the tax cuts are "due" to "we" high-tax bracket supporters?
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PAGE THREE: George W Bush's Decision Making
Problems