But there is another, less attractive part of the Bush persona: the mean-minded frat boy. At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Senator John McCain was about to speak for the re-election of Bush 41 when young George came up to him and said, according to Draper, "You've gotta hammer Clinton on the draft dodging." That from a man who had weaved his way out of serving in Vietnam. McCain replied, "Sorry, that's not my thing."
On Jan. 31, 2001, soon after taking office, Bush held a cabinet meeting. When he entered the room, one chair was empty: the secretary of state's. "Lock the door," Bush said. A few minutes later Colin Powell could be heard trying the doorknob. The room "erupted with laughter." Then Bush ordered the door unlocked. He "had made his point," Draper says; Powell was "not the big dog any longer."
He says next to nothing about what I think will be seen, along with the Iraq war, as the most important legacy of Bush's presidency: his effort to enlarge the unilateral power of the president. Invoking the "war on terror" as a reason, Bush has worked relentlessly to unbalance the balance of powers — the separation of the government into three branches — that James Madison, the father of the Constitution, thought was its fundamental safeguard against abuse of power.
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