Almost two years after leaving the White House, George W. Bush steps back into the spotlight today to promote the release of his new memoir Decision Points. In this book, Bush reflects on key decisions he made during his life and presidency.
Former Bush White House John D. Graham also analyzes decisions that Bush made regarding domestic policy in his book, Bush on the Home Front. Back in May, I interviewed Graham for our blog:
IU Press blog: From 2001 through 2006, you were the regulatory czar in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, which you say put you at the “nerve center of Bush’s domestic policy-making apparatus.” While serving in this capacity, what was your most challenging or interesting policy assignment?
John Graham: I led an interagency task force charged with developing new mileage standards for all new cars and SUVs sold in the United States. The substance of the assignments was technically interesting, and the politics were thick with input from environmentalists, auto workers, the Big 3, the Japanese and German car makers, the auto dealers, and more.
IUP blog: In your interview with the IU News Room, you said, "President Obama cannot count on any cooperation from Republican leaders in Congress." What strategies should President Obama adopt from George Bush in order to achieve success with his domestic policy agenda?
JG: First, Obama should select issues that resonate with a limited number of moderate Republicans (e.g., immigration). Second, he should pressure moderate Republicans for their support by visiting their home states and appealing to their constituents through the local media. Third, he should work the interest groups with powerful ties to the Republican party (e.g., business) to help generate Republican support for the president’s agenda.
IUP blog: In the book, you discuss how George Bush employed a cross-partisan strategy to push forward his domestic policy agenda. What is cross-partisan strategy and how does it differ from bipartisan strategy?
JG: A bipartisan strategy forces the president to appeal directly to the leaders of the opposing party in Congress while a cross-partisan strategy requires outreach to only a limited number of moderate members of the opposing party (who are usually not in leadership positions).
IUP blog: You write about how American politics is becoming more polarized. What are the reasons behind this trend?
JG: The major cause of polarization has been the movement of conservative Southern Democrats into the Republican party and the movement of liberal Northeastern Republicans into the Democratic party. As a result, ideology and party affiliation are now more aligned, which allows the parties to pull further apart from each other on many issues.
IUP blog: You say that “inferring a president’s performance as a policy maker from the state of the economy while he occupies the Oval Office is a dubious line of reasoning. Voters may think otherwise.” What are some fair and unfair criticisms of Bush’s domestic policies and their effects on the state of the U.S economy during his time in office? Also, what positive effects did his policies have on the economy?
JG: Bush merits praise for cutting taxes on capital gains and dividends since these earnings are already taxed once when earned at the corporate level, and taxing them again at the individual level is perverse double taxation on investment. Bush should be criticized for failing to restrain entitlement spending—indeed it accelerated on his watch.
IUP blog: In your opinion, what is George Bush’s greatest domestic policy achievement? His greatest failure?
JG: Greatest achievement: Establishing a role for the federal government that ensures public schools do their jobs. Greatest failure: an effort to begin the privatization of Social Security without an electoral mandate to do so.
IUP blog: If you could go back to 2000 and give former President Bush one piece of advice from your book, what would it be and why?
JG: I would have encouraged him to make greater use of executive powers to achieve presidential policy goals since Congress was too divided to muster effective opposition.
Read an excerpt from the book.