Any great achievement, and any great failure, encompasses the work of many. This book, by eliciting sympathy for President Bush, opened my eyes to how the systems that were supposed to protect us - Congress, the courts and the media - failed him as well as us, resulting in new records in low approval and "worst ever president" ratings.
None of these "estates" of Thomas Carlyle's 19th century list of the powers in public life checked Bush's head-long career toward disaster or called him to account when it arrived. More amazingly they have all failed to defend themselves as this executive branch sometimes leached away and sometimes grabbed their powers to itself.
Presidents, good, bad and indifferent, only serve until another election. The failure of these system seems irreversible. That is truly the Bush tragedy.
