On the conventional wisdom and the saying that every dog will have its day

Michiko Kakutani provides a useful survey and essay of the books written about the Bush administration in her All the President's Books. Kakutani canvasses a broad range of books both favorable and unfavorable toward the Bush administration.

What has emerged from all the President's books is further validation of an administration consisting of a small core of loyalists who are not much interested in the intricacies of policy making, don't care much about expert opinion unless it provides evidence supporting preconceived notions, consider the consequences of their actions as merely messy details for someone else to clean up later, and who sell the management and execution of policy at a deep discount against their vision of the world.

The authors of books criticizing the Bush administration form an impressive array of journalists, generals, high level policy makers, intelligence experts, economists, and political thinkers. Apologists for President Bush would dearly love to paint these folks as part of a dangerous and irresponsible radical left, but a review of these author's credentials, careers, and political preferences refutes that assertion. As one who sympathizes with the radical left, I smile each time I hear the assertion made. It isn't good propaganda when the great unwashed laugh at it.

Bush loyalists paint him as a strong leader boldly implementing visionary ideas others, such as policy experts and professionals, can't grasp, either because they are part of a large left wing conspiracy or too wedded to the bureaucratic conventional wisdom. Ah, the conventional wisdom.

Where does the conventional wisdom reside and how does it manifest itself? The conventional wisdom often resides in the seats of power. It manifests itself by the utterances and actions deriving from those seats of power. The rabble out of doors criticizing what is going on inside doors has the better claim to bucking the conventional wisdom than those who live inside.

Many of us are elated by the bad poll numbers the Bush administration is receiving. Of course, we know that bad poll numbers by themselves will not return the United States to its historical path and vision of freedom, justice, and prosperity for all.

It is a lot more fun waking up in the morning to discover that President Bush's popularity continues in free fall rather than the other way round. It's fun to read books by authors, with whom I share few political sympathies, that confirm my view of the Bush administration and how it operates.

It may not be true that every dog will have his day. But some dogs will.