Is Our Shrub Learning?
**** by Molly Ivins, Lou Dubose, and Paul Begala
Okay, this is really two books: Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush by Ivins and Dubose, and Is Our Children Learning?, by Begala. They are both fabulous books, but it has been a couple months now since I read them, so please pardon my vagueness in the details.
All three authors make a serious case for Bush not being fit for the office of president. Their approaches are slightly different, and make both books interesting.
Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose are affiliates of the Texas Observer, which is probably the most left-leaning periodical in Texas. They are both Texans, and have experienced W the politician in his only previous public office: governor of Texas. They analyze his record on many important issues, highlighting what Governor Bush did (or, in most cases did not do) about them. Health care, tort reform, taxation, and education are all covered, with education being the only area in which Bush tried to do something constructive.
One major problem for the governor of Texas, any of them, is that Texas has a weak governor system. The governor, according to the authors, is the fifth person down in the echelons of who can really get things done in the state. This was great for Bush, who was known for disdaining reading, long meetings, and other duties politicians are typically faced with (I expect, or at least hope, that at this point he may have grown up on those counts), but not so great in terms of bolstering his experience as a public servant. He did a bully pulpit (as they say), but in terms of having the power to fight for potentially difficult legislation that would result in helpful change, he didn't have it.
One thing he most certainly did was make every possible concession to businesses, big businesses. According to Ivins, Bush has absolutely no trouble with letting big businesses have whatever they want. He has no moral qualms about, because he can't imagine what could be wrong about it. Certainly his current non-enforcement of corporate accountability shows the truth of that belief.
Begala served as an advisor to Clinton, and believes wholeheartedly that Clinton is a brilliant politician, and one of the smartest people he has ever met. He does not believe that Bush is a bad man, but in fact he is quite likable. However, Bush does not have what it takes to be president.
Begala takes a more chronological look at Bush's life, from his days at Harvard Business School, to the national guard during the Vietnam War, through his many shaky attempts at being a businessman, on to the governorship of Texas. The picture we end up with is of a man who has not had to work hard for much of anything in his life, who relies on others to do work he should do himself, and who does not deserve our highest office. He was an unmotivated student at both Yale and Harvard, neglected his duties while in the guard, was a terrible businessman (who had his own share of insider trading, no matter what he calls it), and was a weak governor.
One important moral from Begala's book is that Bush, no matter how incompetent he may seem, is not to be taken lightly. Because he is likable, and has very powerful contacts who like him a great deal, he can get almost anything he wants. At the time Begala was writing his book, Bush wanted to be president. Gore, indeed all the democrats, underestimated him; look what happened.
None of the three writers has any idea why Bush was so interested in being governor in the first place. He has never seemed to have any big ideas, or the work ethic to push ideas even if he had them. This was a complaint many had about his father (that "vision thing") that seems to be even more acute in Bush, Jr. Once he got that office, it must have seemed like president was the next "logical" step.
Regardless of what you think of Bush as a person (and it seems most really like him), these books are quite eye-opening in terms of revealing Bush's experience going into the presidency. They're both fast reads (all three authors are very readable--Begala gets a little ham-handed with his references to Bush's distaste for reading, but it's not a big problem), and packed with instructive information. Points to Begala for being very careful with his citations, while Ivins and Dubose don't take the same trouble (a little disappointing if we want to check their facts easily).
My biggest complaint from these two books is Begala's post-election afterward. He takes a jab at the Nader voters, "thanking" them for Bush's election. Sorry, Mr. Begala, but the democratic party has been suffering from bad campaigning and poor leadership for a number of years now (typified by the recent rupublican election "bloodbath", as my brother-in-law calls it). There's only one person to blame for Al Gore's loss (outside the Supreme Court, of course): Al Gore. Our government is, at this point, the most Republican dominated we've had since 1954. I hope they can withstand the temptation to give the entire thing over to the corporate special interests, and that maybe we will achieve more balance in 2004.
It's either that, or move to Canada.
Posted by Joe on November 15, 2002 12:07 PM