Asked by Larry King last night how he feels knowing that he'll leave office as one of history's least popular presidents, Bush gave a tellingly smug reply. "I don't give a darn," he said. "These opinion polls are nothing but a, you know, a shot of yesterday's news." This was part of Bush's original appeal. Unlike Clinton, he wasn't aching for approval. He wouldn't twist to mollify a fickle public. He was "his own man." That was all for the good when he didn't care about being popular. But not caring about unpopularity actually made him a uniquely dangerous president. I've made this argument before, but there are generally a couple democratic checks on a president's power: his desire to retain political capital with Congress in order to pass legislation; his need to retain popularity in order more effectively advocate for his agenda; and his wish to improve the fortunes of his party and ensure the ascension of his vice-president. They're how we ensure that presidents remain responsive to the voting public between elections. Bush was constrained by none of them. He gave up on passing legislation through Congress. He had no designated successor. And he evinced no interest in the fortunes of his party. Indeed, he embraced this descent into unpopularity, eschewing even a hint of compliance with public preferences for withdrawal, or even drawdown, in Iraq. All of which meant he's been completely free. Save for impeachment, he was utterly liberated from the natural democratic checks on executive behavior. There was nothing that congressional Democrats or the electorate could take from him that he had not already taken from himself. This was, all in all, a dangerous shift. Public approval is an important majoritarian check on the presidency. But aside from biannual elections, it has little actual force unless the president wants to listen. Which is why it's worth electing people who, on some level, see the president as a public servant. Bush didn't. And that was part of his appeal, but it's a deeply undemocratic attitude, and it led to deeply objectionable policies in the final years of the administration. Just one more way, I guess, in which Bush has made Clinton look pretty good, and even a bit wise.
