Novak: I've never seen a president so isolated from his own party
Mike Sheehan, Published: Monday March 26, 2007
President Bush is an increasingly lonely figure as his presidency wanes, conservative commentator and columnist Robert Novak says.
"With nearly two years remaining in his presidency, George W. Bush is alone," writes Novak in The Washington Post. "In half a century, I have not seen a president so isolated from his own party in Congress -- not Jimmy Carter, not even Richard Nixon as he faced impeachment."
Novak considers the storm of controversy surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales the latest in a series of divisive events that underscore the separation between the President and Republicans in Congress.
"Not many Republican lawmakers would speak up for Gonzales even if they were sure Bush would stick with him," Novak says. "He is the least popular Cabinet member on Capitol Hill, even more disliked than Rumsfeld was. The word most often used by Republicans to describe the management of the Justice Department under Gonzales is 'incompetent.'"
Yet Congressional Republicans "do not trust their president to protect them," writes Novak. "That alone is sufficient reason to withhold statements of support for Gonzales, because such a gesture could be quickly followed by his resignation under pressure."
He cites the case of Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL), chair of the House Republican Conference, who "praised Donald Rumsfeld in November only to see him sacked shortly thereafter."
Novak says that "incompetent" is also being used by GOP members to desribe the Bush administration in general. "Several of them I talked to cited a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the USA Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco."
He quotes a House leader as saying, "We always have claimed that we were the party of better management. How can we claim that anymore?"
"The saving grace that some Republicans find in the dispute over U.S. attorneys is that," Novak continues, "at least temporarily, it draws attention away from debate over an unpopular war."
Kevin Drum writes at Washington Monthly's 'Political Animal' that "Novak is right: the deficiencies of the Bush governing style are legion, but when all's said and done I think that the very first critique from the very first administration apostate is going to turn out to be the one that nailed the Bush presidency's core problem."
Excerpts from Novak's Washington Post column, available in full here, follow...
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But the overriding feeling in the Republican cloakroom is that the Justice Department and the White House could not have been more inept in dealing with the president's unquestioned right to appoint -- and replace -- federal prosecutors.
...
A few Republicans blame incessant attacks from the new Democratic majority in Congress for that ["incompetent"] image. Many more say today's problems in the administration derive from the continuing impact of yesterday's mistakes. The answer that is not entertained by the president's most severe GOP critics, even when not speaking for quotation, is that this is just the governing style of George W. Bush and will not change while he is in the Oval Office.
Regarding Libby and Gonzales, unofficial word from the White House is not reassuring. One credible source says the president will never -- not even on the way out of office in January 2009 -- pardon Libby. Another equally good source says the president will never ask Gonzales to resign. That exactly reverses the prevailing Republican opinion in Congress. Bush is alone.
Mike Sheehan, Published: Monday March 26, 2007
President Bush is an increasingly lonely figure as his presidency wanes, conservative commentator and columnist Robert Novak says.
"With nearly two years remaining in his presidency, George W. Bush is alone," writes Novak in The Washington Post. "In half a century, I have not seen a president so isolated from his own party in Congress -- not Jimmy Carter, not even Richard Nixon as he faced impeachment."
Novak considers the storm of controversy surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales the latest in a series of divisive events that underscore the separation between the President and Republicans in Congress.
"Not many Republican lawmakers would speak up for Gonzales even if they were sure Bush would stick with him," Novak says. "He is the least popular Cabinet member on Capitol Hill, even more disliked than Rumsfeld was. The word most often used by Republicans to describe the management of the Justice Department under Gonzales is 'incompetent.'"
Yet Congressional Republicans "do not trust their president to protect them," writes Novak. "That alone is sufficient reason to withhold statements of support for Gonzales, because such a gesture could be quickly followed by his resignation under pressure."
He cites the case of Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL), chair of the House Republican Conference, who "praised Donald Rumsfeld in November only to see him sacked shortly thereafter."
Novak says that "incompetent" is also being used by GOP members to desribe the Bush administration in general. "Several of them I talked to cited a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the USA Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco."
He quotes a House leader as saying, "We always have claimed that we were the party of better management. How can we claim that anymore?"
"The saving grace that some Republicans find in the dispute over U.S. attorneys is that," Novak continues, "at least temporarily, it draws attention away from debate over an unpopular war."
Kevin Drum writes at Washington Monthly's 'Political Animal' that "Novak is right: the deficiencies of the Bush governing style are legion, but when all's said and done I think that the very first critique from the very first administration apostate is going to turn out to be the one that nailed the Bush presidency's core problem."
Excerpts from Novak's Washington Post column, available in full here, follow...
#
But the overriding feeling in the Republican cloakroom is that the Justice Department and the White House could not have been more inept in dealing with the president's unquestioned right to appoint -- and replace -- federal prosecutors.
...
A few Republicans blame incessant attacks from the new Democratic majority in Congress for that ["incompetent"] image. Many more say today's problems in the administration derive from the continuing impact of yesterday's mistakes. The answer that is not entertained by the president's most severe GOP critics, even when not speaking for quotation, is that this is just the governing style of George W. Bush and will not change while he is in the Oval Office.
Regarding Libby and Gonzales, unofficial word from the White House is not reassuring. One credible source says the president will never -- not even on the way out of office in January 2009 -- pardon Libby. Another equally good source says the president will never ask Gonzales to resign. That exactly reverses the prevailing Republican opinion in Congress. Bush is alone.
