In Search of Credible Government

Near the beginning of the Bush administration's seventh year, the United States does not have credible government. The Bush administration is no longer credible to either the rest of the American elite or the broad American public. However, the public is not sure yet whether it wants primary responsibility for the country's welfare to be taken up by other institutions. The Bush administration has been furiously pumping air into the balloon of presidential power, but they may find power shifting away from them in the most dramatic fashion possible.

Vice-President Dick Cheney's comment about not running a war "by committee" illustrate the problem. In fact, the Bush administration has proven to the public that it cannot manage either the war in Iraq or domestic policy effectively. That's why Bush's job approval numbers in the U. S. aren't much better than his job approval numbers in France. A landslide majority of the public does not think the Bush administration is capable of effective government.

The Bush administration does not care what the public thinks any more than it cares what Congress, the Democrats, the media, or the UN thinks. Even though the President knew that the 2006 election was a repudiation of the war, he was happy to stick it to the public by escalating the war effort. But, the administration does not want Congress to cut off war funding, close Guantanamo, shut down warrantless wiretapping, or stop the rendition program. That is why they are now showing a willingness to compromise on small things like the deal on warrantless wiretapping announced today by Attorney General Gonzales. This is the Bush administration's end game, to largely defy the rest of American society but not defy the social consensus enough to trigger a Congressional effort to shut down their signature policies.

The Democratic Congressional leadership is in a very different boat. On the day after their election, the Democrats wanted to play it safe. In other words, they were willing to let the Bush administration continue to fail in Iraq and bumble at home while passing a safe and popular legislative program. However, the Bush administration's escalation of the war is proving to be so unpopular that the Democratic Congress may inherit the mantle of legitimate leadership. In that case, the Democrats will have the extremely difficult task of both rendering the Bush administration harmless and leading the country themselves in a time of war. In this context, the job of the Democrats is to keep pushing the administration on the war, keep investigating all their abusive practices, and keep their fingers in the breeze to see how far public opinion wants them to go in challenging the authority of the President.

Reponsibility for the public welfare has fallen almost entirely on the Democrats. Figuring out how to effectively carry out that responsibility while being burdened by the immature provocations of the Bush administration is going to be a tricky business.