People who've spent time with The Decider in private tell me is no dope. But here's the unfortunate test: has he dramatically expanded the state in all areas? Has he rewarded Republican interest groups like big pharma and the military-industrial complex? Will he go down "in history" (that is, in the opinion of statist official historians) as a warmongering welfarist and therefore a successful president?
I'm reminded of Ike, a syntactically challenged, friendly uncle in public. Behind the scenes, he was a brilliant, cold-blooded, articulate exerciser of Power. who consolidated and expanded the New Deal and the Fair Deal, against all the pressures to roll-back these fascist programs.
UPDATE: Writes Skip Oliva, "Another Eisenhower-Bush parallel is that both men were known as strong delegators. Eisenhower essentially invented the role of White House chief of staff to ensure the executive branch mirrored a military command structure. Bush managed to consolidate power within his inner circle, in contrast to, say, Bill Clinton, where there were a number of power centers pursuing disparate agendas."
