The Milli Vanilli President

Before I explain my article's title, there is Howard Zinn who provides a breath of sanity.

Are We Politicians or Citizens? By Howard Zinn

He argues that a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq is a bad choice. His logic is strong.

excerpt: "Timetables for withdrawal are not only morally reprehensible in the case of a brutal occupation (would you give a thug who invaded your house, smashed everything in sight, and terrorized your children a timetable for withdrawal?) but logically nonsensical. If our troops are preventing civil war, helping people, controlling violence, then why withdraw at all? If they are in fact doing the opposite—provoking civil war, hurting people, perpetuating violence—they should withdraw as quickly as ships and planes can carry them home."

Robert Novak on the other hand, has unleashed a fury of contempt for his role in the outing of Valerie Plame. His article is one of many recent articles that suggest a splintering of the Republican party and a President who is more and more isolated from his own party, and this is where I start my explanation.

Bush isolated from GOP lawmakers March 26, 2007 BY ROBERT NOVAK Sun-Times Columnist

Bush has been described as a negative/positive president. This would be a president that has a negative view of policy and a positive view of campaigning. Some would say this is the worst combination of basic values for a president. The best presidents have been those who are almost exclusively interested in policy and profoundly incompetent at campaigning, the positive/negative.

Frank Rich's recent article on Bush and Gonzales "When Will Fredo Get Whacked?" reveals Bush as the negative/positive president.

His close advisors Rove and Gonzales work to keep Bush sharp in the political arena. Gonzales is also the Attorney General so there is an itty bitty complication.

Rich writes, "He's(Gonzales) been present at every dubious legal crossroads in Mr. Bush's career."

Is it worth noting that Bush has raised the stakes with a squad of insiders whose main activity is to keep Bush in the political drivers seat where power is retained and expanded while willfully ignoring any of the affects of policy?

Recall that when Libby was convicted a few weeks ago, that it came out that there was no internal review in the White House to investigate the leak. Even to me that seemed rather mind blowing. This is like not bothering to get rid of the pack of rats that are destroying the house that you live in.

In this case those rats are political dragons. This is the painful reality of Bush. He has an exemplary group of insiders that work to maintain and shield his power as president. They are practiced and skilled in the art of ruthlessness. So on this plane Bush is the superlative politician. Yet, the policy side of his presidency, the part that actually affects Americans is negligible and missing in action. Some would call it destructive and incompetent as Novak notes in his article.

And there it is. Bush is superlative at retaining power, and less than inferior in creating policy. This is why he must maintain his Gonzales. Gonzales works to keep Bush in power.

The metaphor for Bush is that he is like a musician who succeeds in the music business but actually has no musical talent. George Bush is the presidential equivalent of Milli Vanilli.