The Bush 'Regime'
One of the baffling things about this White House's routine is how it violates one of the most basic business premises which I would summarize as "where leaders go, others follow". However if George W. Bush goes to bed at 10 PM sharp, there aren't many of his staff members following as most are expected to burn the midnight oil, which they unquestionably do. That is a marked difference from the round-the-clock chaotic Clinton years and one wonders how this apparent distance between the CEO and his team does not seem to affect team loyalty.
Early-to-bed, punctuality, simplicity, no alcohol, relentless physical exercise, that sums up what we would call the Bush regime. It is one of the key points from Robert Draper's Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush.
Draper's book is an early assessment of this president and it follows its subject from the early days in Texas to the present day troubles of balancing domestic pressures with fighting a war in Iraq. The casual style gives the book the feel as if it is an extended Vanity Fair entry with lots of remarkable anecdotes without answering any real questions the reader might have. Although there are attempts, 'Dead Certain' hardly addresses the deeper motivations of its subject so what we end up is a trove of material making it a book of reference for a real biography that will be written once Dubya has retired at his Crawford ranch.
Still it is a very worthwhile read. From a historical perspective there are two chapters that stand out. One describes the pre-nomination battle in the state of South Carolina where John McCain's name and reputation were dragged through the mud by Bush's highly motivated ground troops. Although it does hardly give an insight about the extent of the candidate's involvement in these brutal tactics, it gives a few useful pointers as to how you can turn around the momentum during a primary campaign. The same level of analysis is devoted to Katrina, the aftermath of which is routinely described as if it was one of Bush's own making which it evidently was not. But it does provide an interesting case study of present-day disaster management and how the White House sought to manipulate public sentiment.
Throughout Draper's book - which is invariably described as being unbiased - the reader is left with a fairly favorable picture of Bush as a well-meaning, focused if somewhat unprepared leader who is not nearly as conservative as his opponents make him out to be. Draper is creating not any real distance between himself and Bush, but more importantly between Bush and less pleasant events that some believe have the president's imprint on it. Draper leaves the reader feeling that Bush is a well meaning actor, often caught in unfortunate administrative turf wars. Admittedly, I did not like Bush when he launched his campaign in 1999, liked him after 9/11, began to dislike him starting in 2004, but Draper has somehow managed to me taking a liking to the guy again.
The somewhat lame conclusion that Bush's virtues are pretty much the same as his vices feels like Draper was in a hurry to get his book to the printer. The material could have yielded a far more thought provoking end. One for instance is that the deferential treatment Bush receives from his team to a point where vital information is not being shared with the boss is possibly one that has created serious dysfunction and some disastrous policy results. The fact that the chief leaves the office at night well before the rest of the team may not appear to be a big deal, but it highlights the fraught dynamics of the Bush White House. If you like presidential history, endless anecdotes, magazine style narrative and an invitation to draw your own conclusions, Draper's book should be yours.
