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Ivory Tower
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Clearly intoxicated by even this negligible breaking of Bush Sr. form, Dubya intemperately seized all responsibility for the deal at the press conference publicizing the ownership change. (His borrowed $600,000 share of the team in fact worked out to be only 1.8 percent of the total financing.) Mitchell offers this sympathetic reading of W.'s self-promotional ploy, the sort of acrobatic special pleading that should summon our infinite compassion for her thankless task as a biographer: In contrast to the exploits of Superman Sr.,

George W. Bush's accomplishments were harder to define: He could only list head cheerleader, fraternity president, and first lieutenant, a commission that would forever be marred by his father's 1970 election day [loss]. What kind of awards were handed out for fun guy, loyal friend, good old boy, caring neighbor? You couldn't run on those resume lines.

W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty By Elizabeth Mitchell Hyperion Books, 370 pages Nonfiction Buy this book at B&N.com Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush By Molly Ivins with Lou Dubose Random House, 179 pages Nonfiction Buy this book at B&N.com

In other words, an undistinguished, inert, monied background finds its personal and political redemption in ... an inert monied takeover bid, disingenuously touted as a solitary work of fiscal genius.

So deep does this confusion between cash and character run in "W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty" that Mitchell can't seem to distinguish between the preferences of campaign donors and the political instincts of the American citizenry. She writes that Bush's affinity with the electorate inheres in his ability "to break all records for fund-raising -- accumulating over $50 million in the first six months. The voters would rather have someone they could trust than a policy wonk."

What voters? The most important group to put Bush over the $50 million mark is the rarefied set of cronies known as the "Bush Pioneers" who weigh in with a $100,000 contribution apiece (each a fastidiously bundled grouping of $1000 "individual" donations so as to be in -- wink, wink -- observance of federal election law). The $50 million figure is itself significant only because it places the Bush campaign beyond the fund-raising restrictions necessary to qualify for federal matching funds. The logic of George W.'s candidacy and George W.'s life pretty much rules out the notion of meaningful popular participation. When the presidency is downgraded to the status of golfing partner, not only does the preponderance of political influence fall to clubhouse habitués; most citizens are quite justifiably indifferent to the sport in the first place.

Which is not to say, of course, that this arrangement does not wreak a great deal of damage on the commonweal. To get the fuller sense of the likely political contours of a W. presidency, the reader is well advised to lay aside "W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty" -- in which Bush's statehouse career fills a scant 18 of 350 pages (most of which, in turn, are devoted to the rigors of campaigning and, yes, fund-raising) -- and take up "Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush."

While Mitchell's book hews tiresomely to the Great Man (or rather, Superman) theory of presidential legacy, "Shrub" aims itself mercilessly at Texas' political playing field, tracking the state's key policy disputes and W.'s distinctly uninspiring political record. Even at half the length of "W.," it is easily twice as informative.

And in marked contrast to the watery, star-struck estimations of the W. "magic" offered by Elizabeth Mitchell, the outlook of authors Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose is suitably scathing. Both veterans of the muckraking Texas Observer, Ivins (now a syndicated columnist) and Dubose (the Observer's editor and former Legislature correspondent) briskly explain that the only relevant entry on W.'s résumé, the Texas governorship, is a notoriously weak executive office to hold. The Texas Legislature meets only 140 days out of every two-year session, its legislative business is usually commandeered by the lieutenant governor and offices such as judgeships that are often appointed from the statehouse in other states are elected in Texas. In terms of constitutional power, the governor of Texas ranks fifth in the pecking order of state government, behind the lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller and land commissioner.

As a result, W. -- who has never exactly been a self-starter -- spends many an afternoon in Austin jogging and playing computer solitaire. (One of the things the "gentleman's C" Yale grad hates most, as Ivins and Dubose note, is "reading 500-page policy books.") Of course, like any executive post, the governorship of Texas remains a bully pulpit. And as Ivins and Dubose note, W.'s one genuine effort at reform -- his attempt to institute a viable and semi-equitable tax plan for the state's grievously misfinanced public schools -- showed how even the enfeebled office of the governor could be turned to productive political use. (This initiative ultimately failed, though, thanks to the intransigence of Bush's party in the face of a reformed tax code that would have taxed limited partnerships in Texas -- aka doctors and attorneys, aka the affluent professional class -- for the first time.)

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