"What an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base. "

—George W. Bush
    (To the wealthy crowd at an $800 a plate fundraiser.)
 

A prefatory observation: though we were in no sense whatsoever Clinton enthusiasts, we were appalled throughout the course of his administration by many of the opinions we heard and read by "conservative" commentators. Many of these individuals seemed to be willing to credit and aggressively promulgate almost any sort of nonsense about Clinton, provided only that it was derogatory.

We're not eager to propagate that much-less-than-proud tradition. So a cautionary note: we don't have the resources to effectively double-check the links we've listed here. While we have no reason to suppose that any of them are false in any way, the reader is invited to bear in mind that political rhetoric tends, almost invariably, to be overheated, and that the most dangerous lies are the ones that speak to one's most cherished prejudices.

Where PL Stands on Bush

Having said that, it seems to us that Bush is a singularly plutocratic president, indeed, the most flagrantly and destructively plutocratic president since Herbert Hoover. Unlike Hoover, however, he is unaccomplished, and undistinguished; he has never worked a day in his life as an employee; and he owes such little success has he has achieved largely to family or more broadly political connections. (His business success, and even the presidency itself, in a sense the gift of a Supreme Court that acted in an utterly partisan and inappropriate fashion, serve to illustrate the point.)

Moreoever, largely due to the makeup of his power base, he's consistently pursued a genuinely radical corporate elitist agenda which is certain to do lasting harm to both the fabric of American society and the world, especially now that all branches of the government are controlled by pseudoconservative corporate elitists.

And yet, despite this, he has been treated with unusual restraint by an almost absurdly docile corporate elitist press. No doubt the events of September 11 have contributed to this kid-glove culture, but it was securely in place well before then, and it has continued to the present. Indeed, until very recently, even the Democratic leadership failed to offer vigorous criticism. (Take note: this suggests that the Democrats cannot be the "kinder, gentler" business party and successfully compete, and that the apparent success of Clinton's so-called "third way" owed more to his personal charisma than to any real appeal his ideas may have had.)

Bush's Cabinet as a Signpost to a Radically Corporate Elitist Agenda

As an illustration of Bush's radically "conservative" (corporate elitist) agenda, consider his cabinet.

Taken together, Bush's cabinet members almost personify the ways in which the interests of corporations and ordinary citizens are today so starkly at odds in the US and the world. Whether it's an education secretary who works hard to bring soft drinks and advertisers into the public schools, a secretary of the interior with a track record of stripping the environment of protections in the interests of the corporate sector, or a Health and Human Services secretary who took money from tobacco giant Philip Morris, the Bush cabinet members are distinguished chiefly by an utter indifference to the common good, and a willingness to sacrifice anything and everything on the altar of corporate profitability. They are, so far as we can make out, acolytes of the same morally bankrupt corporate culture that gave birth to Enron. And if that assessment is correct, then they don't merit the honor of public service. Indeed, it's far from clear that they understand what's meant by that phrase.

Some On-line Overviews

To begin your tour of this Enronesque priesthood you might read one or two of the following overviews. The first one, by Molly Ivins writing for Common Dreams, provides a good quick summary if you don't have much time.

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0209-05.htm
http://www.public-i.org/story_01_011402.htm
http://www.essential.org/monitor/mm2001/01may/may01bushcc.html
http://www.opensecrets.org/bush/cabinet.asp
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0427-04.htm
http://prorev.com/bush3.htm
http://www.feminist.org/appointmentwatch/cabinet.asp

In-Depth Profiles

If, on the other hand, you prefer greater depth, you can read this link to the Angelfire site:

http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/jphuck/Book5Ch.2.html

If you are instead looking for links regarding specific cabinet members, they may be found in the table below.

Links Pertaining to Specific Bush Cabinet Members

Where Next?

Go to the Bush Presidency Index Go to the Progressive Living site map Go to the Progressive Living preamble Go to the Progressive Living welcome page Search the site