Today NY Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani has a wonderful and lengthy review essay on what the recent spate of books about the Bush administration tell us about George Bush and his administration. Kakutani points out that the books, both those from critics and from friends and former members of the administration tell a remarkably consistent if frightening story about how Bush and his administration approach governing. Kakutani seems to have read every single relevant work from Seymour Hersh to Fred Barnes and draws themes from all of them. This is a tour de force that one might expect to find in the New York Review of Books or the New Yorker but rarely in the arts section of the Thursday Times.
To summarize Kakutani's argument; there is a consistent pattern of ignoring normal channels of information and normal rules, ignoring expert advice, whether it is domestic spying or a decision to go to war in Iraq or economic policy. There is a pattern of executive power overreach in every arena and an unwillingness to listen to critics or to make changes. Finally there is incompetence.
While none of this is new to Kossacks or most intelligent Americans, Kakutani marshalls the evidence impressively and builds a case that is stronger because it incorporates such a wide range of books.