Some interesting John Dean columns...
writ.news.findlaw.com
writ.news.findlaw.com
<<...President Bush's Changed Circumstances: Haunted By His Questionable Business Past?
If past is prologue, and I believe it is, President Bush is now highly vulnerable to scandal. It has long been known that Bush played in the minor leagues of the Texas oil business, that he parlayed his name into a seat on a small public company from which he earned almost a million dollars for doing nothing, and that he was given a piece of the Texas Rangers baseball club for a nominal investment that would ultimately reap him a $20 million nest egg.
Bush boasted of his business background during his presidential campaign, claiming that his business background was one of his assets. He would run the government like a good Chairman of the Board, with Cheney his trusted Chief Operating Officer. The fact they had both become wealthy quickly, he suggested, was only proof of their ability.
After Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing, World Com and Adelphia, the world looks different. Just as our domestic and foreign policy changed with September 11th, the accounting frauds of America's largest corporation, with others doing what George Bush and Dick Cheney did on a smaller scale, has changed the economic and business perspective of the nation. Integrity, and not merely results, has begun to matter - because without integrity, corporations will never attract the investment to get results.
Both Bush's and Cheney's weak efforts to deal with the problems facing American business suggest they don't get it. Again, they are following the pattern: Warren Harding didn't get it about relying on his cronies. Richard Nixon didn't understand that his abuses would not be tolerated. Ronald Reagan failed to appreciate that his anti-communism zeal had to follow the law. Bill Clinton was unable to keep his zipper up even when he was the subject of civil and criminal investigation. So, too neither Bush nor Cheney appear to appreciate their present jeopardy.
Those who make it to the White House - both by election and selection - often have more hubris than common sense, and are easily blinded by the spotlight in whose glare they live. The White House, notwithstanding efforts to keep the blinds drawn, is a fish bowl. It magnifies everything for those looking in, and distorts the world for those looking out.
History suggests either Bush or Cheney are a presidential scandal ready to happen. Hopefully, it won't happen. However, I'd give two-to-one odds it will...>> |
