The initial headlines about O'Neill's revelations focused on the already-known-fact that Bush's administration started trying to find a way to go to war in Iraq as soon as they took office in 2001.

Thanks for highlighting what I think is the more interesting part of O'Neill's story: that George W. Bush is obsessed with electoral politics and maintaining power and not really interested in policy. Ever since I read the descriptions of how George W. Bush's role in his father's failed 1992 re-election bid, and his vow not to repeat the mistakes of that campaign, I've known that first and foremost, George W. Bush is a political animal.

The White House wants Americans to think he is "a decisive leader" who doesn't read the news because it is full of blathering opinion. The stories this week all point to the truth that Bush doesn't really care about the policy decisions all that much -- unless they will win or cost him and his party votes in the upcoming elections.

One wonders if he even is a true believer in the neoconservative vision of spreading American influence through war, or if instead, what sold him on the war was the belief that it would raise his popularity in ways nothing else could. Thus far, the war is really the only thing he's been able to do to prop up his presidency. (His popularity following 9/11 was not his own doing.) War in Iraq helped his father -- temporarily. We shall see if he's able to ride the wave longer than his Dad did.

In the end, I hope Americans come to see that George W. Bush is not a "decisive leader" but merely a clever, calculating politico who gets by by helping his friends.

I think the comments from O'Neill are much more damaging - they are specific, eloquent, and they're getting national press. O'Neill is (or at least, was) a respected leader in corporate America, and he's been with the party a long time. It will be interesting to see how Bush deals with this over time... for my part, I'm headed out to pick up the book, which comes out today!

I said December of 2002 that Bush was the biggest power slut I can remember as president.

By power slut I mean one who uses power to get more power without reaching any ultimate end except even more power.

Having said this it is important to keep in mind that Bush is not clever nihilst.

The simplicity of his mind (his IQ is 115) makes this impossible; it also makes it impossible for him to judge an issue much beyond how the common simpleton judges the issue; and paradoxically this means in a Democracy Bush will act exactly like a the clever nihilist except with more genuineness.