The Illusion of a Presidency

I found this post off of Majablog, and I would say that it sums up the entire Bush presidency here:

It's seemed to me all along that the Bush White House was not a real presidential administration, but an ongoing pageant representing an administration. Bush has yet to figure out what a president of the United States actually does. Karl and Karen and the rest of his team are masters at maintaining the illusion of a presidency, and with the deference of the press and support from a loyal Republican majority in Congress it was hard to tell the difference. But now we're going on six years with no substantive governing leadership coming out of the White House--they'’re brilliant at politicking, yes, but they don'’t know how to govern--and the consequences are just too plain to ignore. No amount of pageantry and lighting and staging and banners will get them out of the hole they're in now.

I think the only way Bush could gain back some of the public support he has lost is to actually accomplish something thatÂ’s tangible. But I doubt he knows how to do that.

Maha nails this presidency! This is not an administration that researches policy options and determines which policy will help solve a particular issue. This is not an administration of policy wonks--this is an administration of marketing and sales people. These marketing and sales people have come into the White House with some pre-written scripts--The PNAC Doctrine, tax cuts for the rich, corporate deregulation--and have used marketing presentations to sell these scripts as policies to the American public. And yet, when a real crisis arises, such as Katrina, the September 11th terrorist attacks, the tsunami, the Iraqi insurgency, the Bush marketing department is completely baffled as to how to respond to these crisis. And when the Bush White House does respond, all we end up getting is more marketing spin.

Can Bush actually gain back any public support by accomplishing something--anything--that is tangible? I doubt it as well. Not only is this Bush marketing department totally oblivious in learning how to govern, but they are still at the mercy to those constituents who have bought and paid for this administration--namely the Religious Right wing-nuts, and the corporate interests. And those two constituents are not going to give up their power, nor will Bush ever go against him. President Bush has embedded himself too deeply within these special interest groups, to the point where their cause becomes his cause (If he has ever held a political or moral belief which is contrary to these interests). Bush is too stubborn and resistant to change. He has surrounded himself with yes-men, who will never contradict anything he says, nor will they ever give him any bad news. So as this country continues to deteriorate, we can expect more marketing spin, coming from a Bush White House that believes in the illusion that they are in charge of all events.

Because it is only a matter of time before the crap really hits the White House fan.