the powerful americans

If John Dean thinks we should all be alarmed by the Bush administration's ethics, then that's really saying something. He was exposed to the worst excesses of the Watergate scandal, and makes it very clear that he is worried about the current administration's secrecy and deception. By his own admission, Dean has written this book as a quick and hard-hitting polemic, with personal opinions based on his own experience of sleazy government conduct. While there are sufficient references, this book offers little new when it comes to evidence of the administration's horrendous misuse of information regarding 9/11, the Iraq war, and national security policy (which much of the media and the public still refuse to accept, although contrary evidence is damning and voluminous). However, we do get the advantage of Dean's learned perspective. The greatest advantage of this book is that Dean has cracked the wall of secrecy around the mysterious machinations of Dick Cheney, who is revealed to be a bitter manipulator with a smug contempt for anyone who questions his goals and actions. Dean aptly points out that Cheney's troublesome ethics should be more worrisome than those of Bush. Also, Dean mostly avoids partisanship in his writing, usually letting facts speak for themselves and pointing out ethical lapses of both the left and the right, in order to bring Bush's actions into bold relief. While Dean frequently gets harsh and vindictive, and personal opinions slow down parts of the book, that doesn't mean his targets don't deserve it. [~doomsdayer520~]

As we've seen in books by Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke and others, the Bush administration's deceit is finally coming to light. Who better to open the windows than John Dean? "Worse than Watergate" is an important addition to this surfeit of new books revealing the inner workings of the current White House.

For those of us weaned on Watergate, Dean's book recalls the days of the exposure of a growing scandal in the Nixon White House. The author's main thrust is secrecy as he compares both administrations and finds, rather surprisingly to himself at first, that what the Bush/Cheney "co-presidency" is engaging in is far worse than what Nixon ever concocted. From the war in Iraq to stonewalling to attempts to intimidate Congress, Dean constructs an argument that is most persuasive. He adds to his list the environment, Cheney's secretive and shady business practices, and attempts through various means to make the executive branch more imperial than ever.

Dean makes some basic premises with regard to why Bush's obsession with secrecy and duplicity is worse than Nixon's. He reserves his worst case for the exposure of Valerie Plame, (former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife) which in an attempt to discredit Wilson could have ended up with her death or compromised national security.

As many of us continue to wonder why the press hasn't been more aggressive, Dean criticizes some in the press for not being harder on Bush and cites the important role of the media for garnering and disseminating information to the public, especially with an administration that is bent on wrapping themselves in a shroud. The fourth estate, he suggests, is doing a less than adequate job.

In August, 2002, we awoke to hear that suddenly Iraq had become a threat to our national security. Since then, so much of what the Bush White House told us regarding the need to go to war has proven to be false. Dean points out that if Bush/Cheney get re-elected in November (he refers to them not as "leaders" but "rulers") their path toward further secrecy may very well lead to their ultimate demise at a great cost to the United States.

John Dean offers many memorable quotes throughout "Worse than Watergate" and I think my favorite and the one most apropos is a quote from Woodrow Wilson. Wilson said, "the only truly self-governing people is that people which discusses and interrogates its administration." So far we haven't had much of that interrogation of Bush and Cheney, but I have a feeling that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. This spring and summer may be the Bush administration's "winter of discontent".

1. If any of the revelations presented in this book about the workings of the government's executive branch shock/amaze/stun/astonish you, then you are truly naive and apparently have spent the previous decades snoozing peacefully with Rip Van Winkle in the caves.

2. Ditto for the author, who must have been using a barbituate drip tube for the same amount of time...Iran-Contra (mid-level employees launching an undeclared war against a foreign government in the basement of the White House), nation building efforts that were rarely subject to extensive debate (Somalia, Haita, Kosovo, etc.), the expansion of the national security state (again, without much serious attention or opposition). Where was John Dean during all of these events? More Sominex, anyone?

George Bush and Dick Cheney don't talk to many people, and run a secretive operation on many fronts...which exactly mirrors the role of Hillary, John Sununu (Bush I), and Don Regan...mmmmmmm...could this be the arrogance of power?

And will any other current candidate operate any differently?