BUSH: FDR OR LBJ?
In a National Journal feature titled "The Accidental Radical," Jonathan Rauch offers a concise but comprehensive overview of George W. Bush's record, programs, and philosophy: "The point of this article is not to predict failure for George W. Bush, much less to wish it. The point is to dramatize the stakes he is playing for. He is risking his presidency, his nation's fiscal and geopolitical strength, and the conservative movement. If he wins, he is FDR. If he loses, he is LBJ."
The article is a must-read (thanks to Rick Henderson, scourge of the Nevada Supreme Court, for the pointer), in part because it includes important initiatives that many pundits miss. It also points to a coherent, though not necessarily sound, idea underlying Bush's domestic programs:
Bush's view, expressed in his book and in the 2000 campaign, is that government curtails freedom not by being large or active but by making choices that should be left to the people. Without freedom of choice, people feel no responsibility, and Bush insists again and again, as he put it in the book: "I want to usher in a responsibility era." If one way to give people more choices is to shrink government, fine. But if another way is to reform government -- also fine. And if he needs to expand government to deliver more choices -- well, he can live with that. For Bush, individual responsibility and Big Government are not necessarily opposed to each other, any more than global stability and regime change are necessarily opposites.
And Jonathan points to an important, and Reaganesque shift, in foreign policy:
Underlying all of Bush's foreign-policy departures is a little-noted shift that may be the most fundamental of the bunch. Unlike foreign-policy realists (including his father), Bush does not believe that states should be regarded as legitimate just because they are stable and can be dealt with. And unlike internationalists (including his predecessor), he does not believe that states should be regarded as legitimate just because they are internationally recognized. He believes that legitimacy comes only from popular sovereignty and civilized behavior.
If this shift becomes consistent policy, Our Good Friends the Saudis are in (justified) trouble.