An Oral History of the Bush Presidency

[Puppycow]

From Vanity Fair

This quote about Cheney from a Bush Admin insider stands out:

Lawrence Wilkerson, top aide and later chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell: We had this confluence of characters—and I use that term very carefully—that included people like Powell, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, and so forth, which allowed one perception to be “the dream team.” It allowed everybody to believe that this Sarah Palin–like president—because, let’s face it, that’s what he was—was going to be protected by this national-security elite, tested in the cauldrons of fire. What in effect happened was that a very astute, probably the most astute, bureaucratic entrepreneur I’ve ever run into in my life became the vice president of the United States.

He became vice president well before George Bush picked him. And he began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that he was going to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush—personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum.

I had forgotten that Cheney was in charge of Bush's VP search committee. Was George Bush just a weak character, skillfully manipulated by a Svengali-like Dick Cheney into doing what Cheney wanted him to do? Isn't it odd that a VP search committee would end up picking the person in charge of the VP search committee?

 

[Francesca R]

Wasn't it the Clinton presidency that had oral history?

 

[Whiplash]

Just out of curiosity, will you guys get over this obsession with Bush and Cheney after tommorow? I sure hope so.

 

[drkitten]

Just out of curiosity, will you guys get over this obsession with Bush and Cheney after tommorow? I sure hope so.

Almost certainly not -- and I see no reason why you should hope so.

Historians will probably dig at the Bush presidency for a century; historians still dig at Louis XIV.

From a historical perspective, Bush was a uniquely influential individual -- I don't think any other president in US history was afforded the sort of personal political authority that he was in the aftermath of 9/11, nor has any other president taking such a personal role on the world stage. Add to that his unmitigated incompetence, corruption, and cronyism, and you have a tremendously compelling figure for analysis.

I suspect that he will go down in history in the same group as Caligula and Marie Antoinette, and be just as re-analyzed.

 

[Ziggurat]

From a historical perspective, Bush was a uniquely influential individual -- I don't think any other president in US history was afforded the sort of personal political authority that he was in the aftermath of 9/11,

You have GOT to be kidding me. Lincoln, and suspending Habeas Corpus? Other wartime presidents (and Lincoln isn't the only one) have assumed greater powers and "personal political authority" than Bush ever did.

nor has any other president taking such a personal role on the world stage.

Reagan? FDR? JFK? On what basis do you conclude that he had a larger personal role than them?