GEORGE BUSH? OR LOUIS XIV?….YOU MAKE THE CALL….The Campaign Desk summarizes Allan Murray’s theory (in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal) about why George Bush likes Bob Woodward’s Plan of Attack even though it paints a pretty unflattering picture of his administration:
How can this be? Well, Murray explains, if read with neither liberal nor conservative blinders on, the book paints a flattering portrait of Bush — and of no one else. Secretary of State Colin Powell is painted as “Hamlet on the Potomac,” forever out of the loop. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld comes off as a schemer who refuses to take a clear stand on much of anything. CIA chief George Tenet is blamed for monumental intelligence failures. Vice President Cheney is feverish with dreams of war. Only Bush, the steadfast figure at the core of this collection of flawed climbers, is portrayed almost admiringly, says Murray, a former Washington Bureau Chief of the Journal, who now performs that role for CNBC.
So Bush is fine with the fact that everyone around him looks like an idiot just as long as he looks OK. Jeebus. Did we elect a president or the Sun King? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
