Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush

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Summary: Government inefficiency and warmongering wrapped in secrecy
Review: Pounding on the theme of presidential inefficiency and warmongering, the author contends that pathological secrecy, stonewalling, and hidden motives are not only isolating the president from reality, but also endangering the greatest democracy in the history of mankind. The author argues his contention by the following observations:

1) The great deficit incurred by this government has depleted the federal treasury and thus will eliminate the social programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

2) The greater entanglement in unjustified wars was a result of overzealous and secretive hardliners who deceived the congress and the public. He argues that these secretive politics will lead to destroying our democracy. The war in Iraq was initiated even before securing the borders in Afghanistan, without clear and eminent threat from a contained Iraq, and without a clear exit strategy. Thus, America is fighting two wars, in a remote part of the world, while creating new enemies everyday.

3) Their stonewalling was accompanied by manipulating the court system by appointing judges that favor their side, in deliberate intent to abuse the power of the executive branch of government. That was also evident in the 2000 election, not only on the Supreme Court ruling, but also through the right wing judges in Florida who sided with Bush's campaign in suppressing vote counting.

4) The hidden planes of bankrupting American corporations, such as Enron and World Com, the secretive manipulation of energy regulation that defrauded millions of Californians of billions of dollars, and the overzealous neo-conservatives plot to dominate the world through forward leaning militarization, are disastrous features of the current presidency.

5) The constant deceptive lying about spreading democracy in the third world and preempting massive destruction by unconventional weapons is evident in the government's alliance with dictators, tyrants, and the right wing Israeli government.

All in all, the author paints a picture of a punch of politicians, who might be real Americans and well meaning yet ignorant to the fact that the government in democracy is intended for the people to govern themselves. He also contends that pursuing personal goals at the expense on losing many innocent lives in foolish wars and eliminating serious social programs would not only destroy this greatest democracy, but also would bring the culprits to justice, as was the case with Nixon.

The most significant contribution by the author is raising the issue of pathological secrecy and hidden agenda. This raises these serious questions:

(1) If the American people are stonewalled and kept in dark by their own government, despite the fact that Americans are better educated and more familiar with democratic governing than the rest of the world, then why would foreign nations trust the American government to export its democracy overseas? Most the world admires and respect Americans yet distrusts the American government.

(2) Is the occupation of Iraq intended to loot its resources and fulfill the Zionist dream of monopoly on the Middle East military powers? The feasibility of such monopoly is currently being test by the serious miscalculation of the post-war chaos in Iraq. That is creating a new industry of underground resistance and terror in a part of the world that was gripped by the power of a dictatorial ruler. Thus, instead of securing Israel, the failure in securing Iraq is brewing more instability and increasing global terrorism.