Archy on Bush as the “CEO president”:
It’s interesting that the 2000 campaign used the image of the “CEO president” to describe Bush, because the best parallel I can think of for his style is a bad business executive. Anyone who has worked in the bottom three-quarters of a corporation of any size has experienced the executive who has the trust and even affection of his peers and higher, but is generally regarded as a drooling idiot by everyone below. Typical comments from the productive classes are “Who hired that idiot?” and “Does he actually do anything around here?” Conference calls and charging lunch to the company seem to be their only visible skills, yet they do not seem to be aware of their intrinsic lack of worth. To hear them describe it, their value comes from something called “keeping track of the big picture.” I’m not sure what would happen to that big picture if they stopped keeping track of it and I probably will never find out because they are ever vigilant in their track keeping.
All of the – admittedly anecdotal – evidence I’ve seen about Bush the businessman and Bush the politician fit that mold. Bush doesn’t like to make decisions. He doesn?t like to be bothered by details. He doesn’t like to be questioned and he doesn’t like to be challenged (in either sense of the word). He likes to give commands. When someone brings a problem to his attention, he likes to be able to say, “Solve that problem,” and not think about it again until it is time to celebrate the victory.