ZenPundit
Monday, October 03, 2005
 
BUSH THE BUBBLE BOY: A PRESIDENCY IN PERIL

I've read a good deal of reaction today to the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court of the United States. [sidebar note: Dave has an impressive round-up] As a nominee, Ms. Miers looks, particularly alongside John Roberts who might have been the most judicially qualified human in the known universe, outstanding only in the degree to which she is underwhelming, bordering on mediocre. We shouldn't get too excited however as mediocrity and cronyism has a long and cherished record of adequate service in the history of SCOTUS. Mediocrity is in fact the historical rule. Ms. Miers is at least as qualified as Earl Warren and is more ethical than Abe Fortas; moreover she did get the nomination by virtue of actually working as a lawyer as opposed to, say, simply being President Truman's poker buddy. Brilliance like Roger Taney's on the other hand, we can do without.

Aside from a reputation of being personable, hardworking and gracious, that's as much as I can say in favor of Ms. Miers. It was not a nomination worthy of the ridiculous abuse being currently screamed from the wingnut sections of the blogosphere but neither was it an inspiring choice on Bush's part and one that points to a deeper problem. The President has an administration that appears to be increasingly out of touch with not only the general public but also the Republican base. On Katrina, on Iraq and now on Miers, one catches the whiff of drift, isolation and complacency.

It as if Bush II is eeriely beginning to replay the history of the first Bush administration but over twice the the frame of time. The Miers nomination was barely adequate and badly conceived by key advisers who have grown so cocooned within the infamous and seductive White House " bubble" that they imagined that Ms. Miers would be greeted with accolades. The Bush people are damn fortunate that their most ardent political opponents in the Democratic Party and Congress are intellectually bankrupt and disorganized because capable opponents would already be moving in to fill the leadership void and seize the initiative.

This happens to many presidents in their second terms. After years of aides telling them what they wish to hear, relating to fewer and fewer people outside of the Beltway, their information feedback loops become warped. They stop remembering how the rest of us are framing events vs. the connected insiders who fill their daily appointment book. The political OODA cycle keeps misfiring until the " Observe " aspect is corrected by bringing in some new blood and reducing the scope of the protective bubble so that the president lives more like the leader of a great democracy and less like a high tech version of Louis XIV.
 
Comments:
We seem to be on the same page.
 
Hi Curtis,

I think Bush retains some good instinctual reactions to bad policy proposals that are thrown his way but he and his people are moving like they are in a fog. Or perhaps autopilot is a better description.

In a word, the administration is getting tired. They lack the ruthless and *alert* edge of the first two years
 
His 2nd term foreign policy has had one success (Lebanon) and many inept failures (Uzbekistan, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Latin America, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Iran, Saudi). This is an administration drifting in la-la land, unable to compute the need in the world for effective global leadership that involves more than just sending the military every time to perform miracle work because diplomats and aid workers are too underfunded and overlooked to get anything of long-term value accomplished.
 
Mark,

To play Devil's... er, Miers' Advocate...

Modern warfare relies on super-empowerd subordinates. Pioneered by the Germans, it relies on building up a common world view with your subordinates so they have the right fingertip feeling, trusting then to accomplish your general objectives, and giving them the resources to do so, underlines. This has been President Bush's approach to politics. From his selection of Vice President Cheney as the man who he put in charge of the VP search (allowing time for building up the trust and building a common fingertip feeling), to Secretary of State Rice (ditto), to Attorney General Alberto Gonzoles (ditto), to Harriet Miers, he does the same thing again and again. Bush's Republicanism has been so successful because it combines to best parts of blitzpolitik with tribal and ideological concerns.

Further, it appears that Miers would be the first evangelist on the Court in 70 years. As this was not intially telegraphed by Bush, it may have been an attempt for Christian SecretPolitics. It also may have been in collaboration with elements of the Democratic leadership, particular the pro-Life Reid, which would allow the Senator Minority leader to roll-back abortion while keeping his job.

One could argue that the Right Blogosphere's lack of trust sabotaged this full-spectrum attempt to seize the Supreme Court with a judge who does not look like a warrior. Bush may have been attempting to walk without rythm, but attracted a worm from the Right Blogosophere anyway.

Dan tdaxp
 
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