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Monday, January 3, 2011

Book Review

I just finished reading Karl Rove's autobiographical "Courage and Consequence" which I highly recommend. It provides a detailed insight into the truly herculean organizational effort involved in running a major political campaign. It also was extremely supportive of George W. In particular he cites many examples of Dubya's decency, determination and yes even his intelligence.

As I have stated earlier in this space, I firmly believe that history will be very kind to the 43rd president just has it has been to Harry Truman who - like Bush - left office a the nadir of his popularity due in large measure to discontent with the Korean War. Sound familiar? Rove also provides an inside the White House view of the four major events that defined the Bush presidency - namely 9/11, the Iraq war, Katrina and the financial crisis.

9/11 not only fundamentally changed America it also radically altered the priorities of the Bush agenda - which until then had been mostly focused on domestic issues. It also presaged the rationale and the political and public support for the removal of the Iraqi regime and what became known as the "Bush Doctrine" of attacking not just the terrorist groups themselves but also those governments that provide safe haven and support. It is noteworthy that at least in this area the Obama administration has continued the "Bush Doctrine" without any change.

On the Iraq war Rove rightly credits Bush with the wisdom and courage to pursue the "surge" strategy in spite of cries from the left that the war was already lost (to quote Harry Reid among others) and even some skeptics within his own administration. It is now clear that the current progress - both on the political and security fronts - would not have occurred without this action. He also points out repeatedly the hypocrisy and dissembling of the Dems who were on the record as fully supportive of the Iraqi operation in the beginning but later became its most fervent critics. Among these scoundrels were the usual suspects of Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, John Kerry and even Nancy Pelosi.

Bush took a lot of criticism - even to the point of being labeled a racist - over the Katrina response. What got lost in all the uproar were a number of key facts. First the real reason for the woeful response in New Orleans was not an ineffective federal agency but the lack of an emergency plan and delays and dithering both pre and post hurricane by the mayor - Ray Nagin - and governor - Kathleen Blanco. The feds had pushed for an evacuation 72 hours prior to landfall but the Nagin didn't act until 24 hours before the event. Regarding the post hurricane response given that disaster response is always a city and state responsibility, the only way the federal government can help is either through a request from the state governor or to declare the area in a "state of insurrection." Despite repeated attempts to get the governor to act, she failed to do so and as result the people of N.O. suffered unnecessarily. Just to prove this point just contrast what happen in Mississippi and Alabama. These states were affected just as badly by the storm but in these cases the states had a plan and were quick to request federal assistance. Unfortunately the critics of the Bush administration jumped on the Katrina event to unfairly paint Bush as uncaring and incompetent rather than directing their ire at the real local culprits. What I find unbelievable is that even after his abominable and largely absentee performance New Orleans re-elected Nagin.

The proximate cause of the financial collapse and consequent bank bailouts and recession was the bursting of the housing bubble. Now what does not get talked about enough is that the housing bubble was the result of years of progressive democratic pressure to make home ownership more affordable for the masses - including those who did not have the financial wherewith all to take on a mortgage. The key players in this debacle were Freddie and Fannie Mae and folks like Rep. Barny Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd. In fact it was the democrats - including then Senator Obama - who blocked the Bush administration efforts to reign in these two GSE's years before the bubble went pop. So when I hear the liberals complain that Obama inherited a financial crisis I want to scream since it can be clearly proven that it was caused by Obama and his democratic cronies in the first place. Granted the whole crisis was exacerbated by a few too clever for their own good Wall Street types who invented the credit default swap and the unregulated nature of this instrument, but let's not forget who the real villains were that created the conditions for the wildfire to begin.

Next up on my reading list is "Decision Points" by George W. himself. Unfortunately there is a waiting list of 145 people in the queue for one of the 45 copies of this book in the Houston library system so it may take a while to get my hands on it.

Comments are always welcome.