Book Impostor : How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy

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Impostor : How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy ...


From Publishers Weekly
Liberal commentators gripe so frequently about the current administration that it's become easy to tune them out, but when Bartlett, a former member of the Reagan White House, says George W. Bush has betrayed the conservative movement, his conservative credentials command attention. Bartlett's attack boils down to one key premise: Bush is a shallow opportunist who has cast aside the principles of the "Reagan Revolution" for short-term political gains that may wind up hurting the American economy as badly as, if not worse than, Nixon's did. As part of a simple, point-by-point critique of Bush's "finger-in-the-wind" approach to economic leadership, Bartlett singles out the Medicare prescription drug bill of 2003? "the worst piece of legislation ever enacted"?as a particularly egregious example of the increases in government spending that will, he says, make tax hikes inevitable. Bush has further weakened the Republican Party by failing to establish a successor who can run in the next election, Bartlett says. If the Reaganites want to restore the party's tradition of fiscal conservatism and small government, he worries, let alone keep the Democrats out of the White House, they will have their work cut out for them. (Feb.)
Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Bartlett, an economist and former Reagan administration official, attacks the Bush administration hard but from the political Right. Challenging Bush's conservative principles of operation and credentials, Bartlett actually gives former president Clinton more credit for following conservative economic principles. In contrast, the Bush administration has been marked by shortsightedness, if not anti--intellectualism, too willing to reward friends without regard to competency and to punish as enemies those who deviate from the party line. Bush's shortcomings include his drug bill, trade policies, and expanded regulatory requirements. Interestingly, Bartlett concludes that Bush's relentless effort to cut taxes will leave an unenviable legacy for a conservative--the need for America's largest tax increase. Bartlett also takes the administration to task for corruption that violates the principles of difference the Republican Party declared during the campaign against Clinton. This is a worthy critique, one that the administration will not be able to dismiss as liberal propaganda. Vernon Ford
Copyright ? American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Powerful indictment from a voice we cannot ignore , February 21, 2006
Reviewer: J. A Magill (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

When pundits for years complained about the excess of ideology in politics, they did not consider what might replace it once gone. Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist with impeccable credentials dating back to President Reagan's White House, answers that question in this important book with disturbing results. Analyzing the administration of the current President Bush he concludes that lacking a coherent ideology, what comes to reign in its place is a crass political opportunism. While coming from a liberal writer such attacks might seem old hat, Bartlett moves from his home on the right, arguing not only that the current White House shows signs of frequent incompetence, but in fact has betrayed the principles that the conservative movement embraced for the last forty years.

Taking the competence question first, Bartlett examines how little appetite the current administration has for serious analysis and research. Citing sources on issues ranging from national security, to economics, to healthcare, the author offers examples to prove a pattern of stifling debate, cajoling, sidelining, and even threatening those who would question the policy conclusions determined mostly by political handlers instead of policy experts. Surrounding himself with "political hacks" whose main ability rests in the ability to "say yes and ignore the obvious," the administration often begins with policy and then searches out justifications. Thrashing dissent and ignoring the traditional policy experts who work from positions of expertise, Bartlett sees the President's failure on important issues as Social Security, healthcare, and perhaps even Iraq arising from this dysfunctional process. Thus the author looks to the rough treatment of both the Treasury Secretaries and the Council of Economic advisors, used not to formulate thoughtful policy, but instead to sell an often incoherent program to the public.

Troubled by the current White House's obsession with secrecy, the author further wonders how the notion of an imperial presidency overthrew a conservative commitment to openness and reliance on legislative authority. Sadly, the timing of this work's publication does not allow us to hear Mr. Bartlett's musing on the current question of domestic surveillance without judicial approval and what that means for the libertarian ideas Conservatives for so long cherished.

On the issue of breaking with conservative ideals, Bartlett proves even more adroit in his criticism. Time and again, Bartlett points out how President Bush ignores fundamental issues such as a fiscal discipline and the desire for smaller government in order to avoid tough decisions and opportunistically score political points. Thus the author wonders about the greatest expansion of the social welfare state since the new deal with the Medicare Drug Benefit under a supposedly Conservative President. Again, the competence issue comes into play, as the White House suppresses the analysis of dissenting experts with grave concerns that the cost estimates of the program were woefully inadequate. History speaks for itself, as the cost estimates of those experts that we never learned of proved to be correct.

Bartlett further stares aghast at the exploding federal deficit and wonders how President Bush can add new spending to a budget already flooded with red ink. That this President now hold a record for going the longest without wielding his veto pen, especially in the face of pork laden budget busters like the recent highway bill, leaves Conservatives like Bartlett truly dumbstruck. Indeed, the author commits a deep herasy when praising the budget discipline of the Clinton White House in contrast to the policies of the current administration.

If the author's work falls short in one area, it is his failure to examine why so much of the conservative movement follows in lock-step behind policies that clearly violate long cherished beliefs. Supposedly Conservative Congressmen passed the drug benefit. Conservative intellectuals and officeholders actively defend the President as he spies on some American citizens and holds others without due process, both affronts to the very idea of personal liberty do crucial to libertarian ideals. Fox News and Talk Radio overflows with once conservative voices now turned to mere shills defending whatever policy the White House happens to roll out.

Conservatives should look to Mr. Bartlett's fine book as a wake up call. No doubt, White House attack dogs will do all they can to savage this fine, thoughtful disciple of Reagan, but if the rank and file allow that to happen it will leave their party in grave jeopardy. Just as the Democrats find themselves adrift, having abandoned philosophy for the expediency of power and in the end finding them selves bereft of both, Republicans may end up walking the same plank.