New book on Bush
The NY Times has an article today on Bob Woodward's new book, State of Denial. Two years ago, I would have said that while I disagreed with much of Bush's politics, he at least got some of his agenda accomplished--tax cuts, homeland security, the war. But the more I read, the more I begin to think that the administration really doesn't know what it's doing. That it operates primarily from a simple, non-evidence based view of the world. They lack the nuanced thinking and vision to foresee the consequences of their actions, and tend to prefer only that information that fits their pre-conceived objectives. Case in point:
The book says President Bush’s top advisers were often at odds among themselves, and sometimes were barely on speaking terms, but shared a tendency to dismiss as too pessimistic assessments from American commanders and others about the situation in Iraq.
Or this point:
Two members of Mr. Bush’s inner circle, Mr. Powell and the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, are described as ambivalent about the decision to invade Iraq. When Mr. Powell assented, reluctantly, in January 2003, Mr. Bush told him in an Oval Office meeting that it was “time to put your war uniform on,� a reference to his many years in the Army.
Donald Rumsfeld also seems to come off badly--not surprising, since his prediction of a quick war easily won has failed to materialize. I probably won't read this, but it doesn't sound like an encouraging note for the next two years.