POLITICS OF FEARLESS:

An ambitious Bush has shown he isn't afraid of risk (JAMES ROSEN, 1/17/05, Modesto Bee)

As he prepared to take office four years ago, George W. Bush promised to promote a humble foreign policy and scale back U.S. military commitments abroad while limiting federal government initiatives and curtailing spending at home.

Now, on the cusp of his second inauguration Thursday, the former Texas governor is pursuing bold and expensive plans both in domestic policies and around the globe. From his controversial decision to invade Iraq in his first term to his bid to overhaul Social Security in his second term, Bush has displayed a leadership style that surprises presidential scholars with his derring-do readiness to roll the dice on big gambles and confront the political risk they create.

"He's much more assertive than I thought he would be, which belies the impression that is pretty universal about him of limited intellectual capacity," said Charles O. Jones, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank in Washington. "He has confidence in himself, and he's more of a risk-taker and clearly willing to engage problems that he identifies. All of that I find quite surprising. He's different than I thought he would be." [...]

Many professional president-watchers accept Bush's assertion that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks redefined his presidency by forcing him to become a war president. But they say his personal traits also put a pronounced stamp on his first term and stand in sharp contrast to the incremental, cautious approaches of his two immediate predecessors.

"His survival in the face of all sorts of terrible events — some of which were not his fault and some of which were — and his implacability are extraordinary," said Alan Brinkley, a Columbia University historian. "He just never gets rattled, never changes course. I think that's his great strength. Whether you like the course or not, it's hard not to be impressed with how absolutely committed he is to follow the path he sets for himself."

He ran on this Social Security reform in 2000 and has already passed three tax cuts, education vouchers, and HSAs--do the scholars pay any attention?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 17, 2005 10:35 AM