It’s no secret that author Bruce Bartlett doesn’t like George W. Bush.
Bartlett called his latest book Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America. Bartlett’s publisher added to the subtitle: And Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.
The author and former Reagan administration staffer attacks the president from the political Right, rather than the more common attack point from the Left. Bartlett outlined his views during a John Locke Foundation Headliner luncheon today in Raleigh.
Bartlett cited a list of Bush administration policy decisions that defied his understanding of conservative principles — including the Medicare prescription drug benefit, No Child Left Behind, and the absence of a single veto of Congressional spending packages.
Consider the following exchange with Carolina Journal associate editor Paul Chesser:
Chesser: Is he really an impostor? Why should they have expected him to be conservative?
Bartlett: As I alluded to, I was concerned about some of the things Bush said in the campaign in 2000, but I thought it was just political [baloney]. I thought he was just saying these things because he wanted to get elected.
And all the indications were — that were coming down through the conservative movement — that he wants to be another Reagan. All the indications that the Bush campaign was making were that he understood the mistakes that his father had made and that he wasn’t going to repeat them. And he was not going to be suckered into budget deals with the Congress and raise taxes and things like that.
So I thought it was one of these things where you say one thing in public and then you give private assurances to your followers. And that’s what I thought they were doing. And it came as a surprise to me that he turned out to be what he is. But I think he can still be justifiably called an impostor because he really does try — when it suits him to do so — try to convince people that he is a true blue conservative.
