Bloodless Coup

Still the C Student

One thing that's abundantly clear in many of the works that closely examine the president's behavior in his first term (for example. Woodward's Bush at War) is that the president seems to be very insecure. Surrounded by veterans of the DC establishment and actual warriors he's often come across as practically desperate to show that he's really in charge. His constant belittling of experts (you know, people who actually know a thing or two about what they are talking about) is one example of this behavior. His need to cut down people who he thinks are smarter than him is another. Sadly, as Brendan Nyhan notes, even though President Bush is by now a veteran of the Washington scene, he still feels the need to engage in this childish (and potentially destructive) behavior.