How much power does Bush really have?

[ck4829]

Is he the head honcho?

Or...

Is he the guy who simply signs the orders?

Or...

Is he just the mask of a Fascist movement?

[SteppingRazor]

1. I dunno...

Why don't you ask him that, and we'll see you in Gitmo? ;)


I think that pretty much I've offered my opinion on your question with my question. Bush can get whatever he wants -- as long as it doesn't interfere with what the rest of them want.

[DistressedAmerican]

2. Mouthpiece...

[wli]

3. mask of a fascist movement

Cheney and Rumsfeld are at least proximally calling the shots.

[proud patriot]

4. bush is Pinocchio IMHO

[sam sarrha]

5. havent you seen the marks on his face from Cheney bitch slapping him..??

[Darkhawk32]

6. If Congress did their job, then not as much as he seems to have. n/t

[jobycom]

7. He HAS a lot. How much he uses is the question

The President is always boss, and he delegates tasks to his cabinet and other administration officials. Different presidents have different levels of control. Carter was a control freak--nothing could be done without his approval and input. Reagan was an ideas man--he told his cabinet what he thought should be done, and they did what they wanted within those parameters. Bush Daddy was involved in foreign policy, but left the domestic policy to others.

Bush's problem is he doesn't really understand any of this. He has the power to make all the decisions. He can fire anyone, he can appoint anyone, etc. But he doesn't really understand what they do. So they tell him what should be done, and he lets them do it.

But there are always power struggles to influence the president. Carter was hard to influence--he knew what he wanted. Reagan ran his White House, but he played favorites, and his favorites ran the country. There were always struggles over who would control him. The biggest struggle was between Nancy Reagan's faction and George Bush, his VP. Bush won when he got Haig run out, for instance. At other time Nancy would win. Sometimes they allied.

Clinton wanted to always know what was going on, but he also trusted his appointees to make decisions. There were struggles to influence Clinton (Dick Morris, for instance), but since Clinton knew what he wanted done and understood the issues before him, usually his cabinet did what he wanted, though with their own touch. The one exception was the Pentagon and intelligence--they had a lot of battles, supposedly.

What happens with Bush is that he doesn't know enough to make decisions, so people go to Rove or Cheney. His big appointees, like Rumsfield, get to do what they want. There's no leadership, so there's no consistent policy--there's just a lot of people doing what they want. If any of them go too far, Bush, Cheney or Rove reigns them back in.

So Bush HAS all the power of any president. If he went insane, or if someone managed to steal his attention, he could fire Rove and Cheney and do what he wanted. But he's too weak to do it. So he lets others run things.

Sorry, I know I write too much.

[Cleita]

8. The office of the President has a lot of power. Whether it's

Bush wielding the stick though isn't really known even by Washington insiders although there is plenty of speculation. My take is that there is some shadowy figures from the PNAC that are making the decisions and passing them on to the President and the visible PNAC minions in his administration.

If you read the PNAC website, you can see how deluded they are about much of their ideology, yet they keep bringing their agenda before the President and Congress and it keeps getting rubber stamped, like the most recent legislations passed before Congress adjourned.

[emulatorloo]

9. why does DU endlessly let Bush off the hook?

He has power, He sets the agenda, He is his mother's son.

Read Woodward, read Paul Oneill. read Richard Clarke.