49 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well worth the time, December 9, 2007
This review is from: Utter Incompetents: Ego and Ideology in the Age of Bush (Hardcover)
You might suppose from the title that this is just another book bashing the Bush administration and not worth the time or money when there are so many others to choose from, but while the catastrophes in foreign policy and the war in iraq are now well documented by convincing books, Oliphant is not content to retrace now well worn trails. He brings new information and background to the entire range of Bush administration incompetence--health care, environment, education, etc.
This is important to do since voices in Congress are mostly silent on these issues and newspapers with only a few exceptions have been far too restrained in their assessments. What you end up with here is an appreciation for the abysmal failures of this administration even to achieve its own goals because it is forever substituting short term public relations gimmicks for long term solutions. The full dimension of the Bush disaster becomes much clearer is this well written and carefully argued record.
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41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thomas Oliphant Thinks George W. Bush Is A Crap-tastic President..., December 26, 2007
This review is from: Utter Incompetents: Ego and Ideology in the Age of Bush (Hardcover)
Utter Incompetents, $24.95 Amazon.com, runs three hundred pages. This hardback from Thomas Oliphant is about government and politics, more specifically the Bush Administration and its many failings; a woeful energy policy, the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War, and the Republican loss of Congress. Oliphant's book is especially potent when investigating the legacy George W. Bush leaves behind.
The book examines the firings of twelve Republican US Attorneys - a political flap attributed to a memo generated by Karl Rove in 2004. These strategic, politically-motivated DOJ firings cost Gonzales his position as Attorney General. Oliphant then reaches back to explain how Bush came to be elected, how he chose his Veep, and the tremendous corporate influence on Bush's Cabinet.
The crux of Oliphant's book is this - George W. Bush's Administration and a Republican-led Congress have damaged the conservative cause. Oliphant intimates Bush blew it when it came to John DiIulio and his `faith based' initiatives. Furthermore, everything Bush has touched has turned into major catastrophe; his presidency is a textbook case of narrow political success squandered by massive governmental failure.
Energy policy was Bush's supposed strength, but his record ranged from dereliction, to inattention, to special interest favoritism. His inaugural year created a price-gouging mess that rages unabated, and electrical brownouts and triple-rate price hikes that occurred in California were the result of fraud and price/supply manipulation. Two-term Presidents are both effective and responsive, or failures; Bush is the latter.
Reforms for the health care system as proposed by President Bush have been astonishingly unrealistic, and only Americans with large incomes would benefit. Representative Rahm Emanuel derided Bush's initiatives for their "absence of appeal to ordinary Americans for whom up-front payments for personal insurance would be an extreme hardship," and stated that Bush "does nothing to expand the number of insured."
Inattention to global warming has also made Bush look weak. The American public has realized that Bush used his presidential power to serve the needs of special interest groups (for example, coal-fired power plants) instead of shoring up conservative environmental principles, and they disapprove of his political subterfuge in these areas. Bush also hobbled the FDA through cronyism and mismanagement.
Despite pledges to funnel $1.7 billion annually to poverty related organizations operated by churches, less than $1 billion was being distributed through religious organizations at the end of Bush's first term. The money given to `faith based' initiatives, however, failed to offset the increase in poverty that occurred throughout Bush's first term. Bush also squandered choice opportunities for comprehensive immigration reform.
In botching the economy and ignoring kitchen table issues, Bush created conditions that lost the G.O.P. control of Congress in 2006. Between 2001 and 2006, corporate profits in the U.S. nearly doubled, while worker's wages dipped 3 percent. And while worker's wages have remained flat, the cost of necessities (daycare, education, electricity, food, gas, health care, and housing) has spiraled.
One topic Bush failed at specifically concerns tax cuts. Bush has absolutely no strategy for rescuing his dear cuts for high-income earners and investors from their 2010 expiration dates. Activist Bruce Bartlett (who served under Reagan and Bush Sr.) attributes growing discontent on the right, to a growing conviction that Bush Junior blew a historic opportunity and hurt the conservative cause.
The great tragedy of the Bush legacy is this - gargantuan deficits. This is indefensible because Bush took office with a projected $5.6 trillion dollar surplus, then squandered it on costly wars (Afghanistan and Iraq), and large tax cuts. Additionally, Bush and his supporters elevated old-fashioned pork barrel spending ($30 billion in 2006 alone) to new highs as the deficit ballooned.
Sadly, Oliphant predicts, the Bush Administration will be remembered mostly for the murderous mess it made in Iraq. Bush will inevitably be held accountable for the botched occupation; also for his myopic refusal to plan for the unforeseen and his inability to make adjustment to the war plan as needed. Every American should take their blinders off and read this important book.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Summary!, December 24, 2007
This review is from: Utter Incompetents: Ego and Ideology in the Age of Bush (Hardcover)
Oliphant was challenged to find an explanation of how one administration could goof with such astonishing regularity - in natural disasters, wars, taxes, energy, health care, and Social Security. Reviewing 16 topics, Oliphant saw patterns of ignored pitfalls, hubris and arrogance, excessive emphasis on short-term politics, ideology, and cronyism.
Bush is at his worst when his policies are patently absurd and become the subject of jokes. Bush's health care proposals provide an example - his tax credits and deductions sound good, but do nothing for those of low income - not only do they not pay enough taxes to benefit adequately to cover their health care costs, even if they did there still is the problem of needing the money up front, not long after the fact the following April 15.
The Bush administration continually cites statistics to "prove" that the economy is booming. On the other hand, a study found that the typical U.S. family is nearly $550/month behind where it was in 2000 after taking into account changes in income, housing, health insurance, and gasoline. (Increased food, preschool, and college costs make things even worse.) Meanwhile, Bush Inc. tries to cover things up by directing official comparisons be based on the end of the last recession, instead of when he took office.
Energy provides another important topic. An early Bush tactic was to oppose states breaking energy contracts provably negotiated with fraudulent terms, support Enron's derivative contracts, place great priority on developing Alaska's North Slope (despite studies showing it would have minimal impact), support new subsidies for energy companies - despite their earning record profits, and ignoring the potential for conservation.
Other topics examined include decision-making to invade Iraq, management of the occupation of Iraq, the Katrina management disaster, failure to take terrorism warnings seriously prior to 9/11, refusal to dialogue with other mid-East nations, and of course, the Justice Dept. under A.G. Gonzales.
Provides a good summary (to-date) of Bush's failings and inept style.
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