When the Bush presidency began to collapse, pundits were quick to tell a
tale of the "imperial presidency" gone awry, a story of secretive,
power-hungry ideologues who guided an arrogant president down the road
to ruin. But the inside story of the failures of the Bush administration
is both much more complex and alarming, says leading policy analyst
Alasdair Roberts. In the most comprehensive, balanced view of the Bush
presidency to date, Roberts portrays a surprisingly weak president,
hamstrung by bureaucratic, constitutional, cultural and economic
barriers and strikingly unable to wield authority even within his own
executive branch.
The Collapse of Fortress Bush shows how the president fought--and
lost--key battles with the defense and intelligence communities. From
Homeland Security to Katrina, Bush could not coordinate agencies to meet
domestic threats or disasters. Either the Bush administration refused to
exercise authority, was thwarted in the attempt to exercise authority,
or wielded authority but could not meet the test of legitimacy needed to
enact their goals. Ultimately, the vaunted White House discipline gave
way to public recriminations among key advisers. Condemned for
secretiveness, the Bush administration became one of the most closely
scrutinized presidencies in the modern era.
Roberts links the collapse of the Bush presidency to deeper currents in
American politics and culture, especially a new militarism and the
supremacy of the Reagan-era consensus on low taxes, limited government,
and free markets. Only in this setting was it possible to have a "total
war on terrorism" in which taxes were reduced, private consumption was
encouraged, and businesses were lightly regulated.
A balanced, incisive account by a skilled observer of U.S. government,
The Collapse of Fortress Bush turns the spotlight from the powerful
cabal that launched the war in Iraq to tell a much more disturbing story
about American power and the failure of executive leadership.
