Cronyism, Nepotism, and the Current President Bush

National Review ^ | 10/18/2005 | Adam Bellow

[curiosity]

According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 54 percent of Americans think President Bush values party loyalty and personal friendship over competence. The poll was prompted, as if you didn’t know, by Bush’s habit of appointing friends and retainers to major jobs in his administration. Some of these seem qualified enough: Condi Rice, Alberto Gonzales. Others seem more questionable, none more so than Michael Brown and Harriet Miers.
In one sense this is nothing new for Bush. From the start, his administration was marked by a web of family connections, and certain members of the press were quick to cry nepotism. But, perhaps coincidentally, since the ascendancy of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid — himself the subject of a major nepotism expose in 2002 — such talk has softly guttered out. Now it’s back in a new form — allegations of cronyism.

Dubya & the Dynasty

Nepotism and cronyism appear to be different things, but from a practical and ethical standpoint, the distinction is virtually meaningless. Only the modern liberal fetish with “blood ties” makes these acts appear different in kind. Both offend our public creed of meritocracy, and both are best understood as forms of family patronage. Which is to say, they are two faces of the same dynastic strategy.

You cannot understand George W. Bush without an understanding of his family, and dynastic families in general. Indeed, it might be said that Bush’s familial approach to politics has been his greatest strength and greatest weakness — his Achilles heel. Like Bonaparte, the same dynastic habits that brought him to power may bring him down again. They don't teach a course in patronage and nepotism at Harvard Business School — but they should. Instead they pretend that it doesn't exist. That does us all a disservice.

Dynastic families are not like yours and mine (unless your name is Bush or Kennedy). They are self-conscious, multigenerational enterprises displaying strong collective discipline and an innate, untutored grasp of certain perennial modes and orders that advance the family’s interest. All the great dynastic families in history have used these methods, though in our post-dynastic age they are most visibly preserved by the mafia. Indeed, those who compare the Bushes to the Corleone family are not far off the mark. Through a tangled web of marriage, adoption, instrumental friendship, and godparenthood, the typical mafia don creates a series of concentric rings around his family that extends his power deep into the countryside. Likewise, the Bushes have created an enormous social network based on their family. Like other large successful clans they prefer their own company and that of their relatives, friends, and retainers. Such families typically have their own compounds where they gather apart from the rest of society, and when someone useful swims into their view they adopt him as part of the family. This was the way the Bushes dealt with Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, whom they christened "Bandar Bush."

In short, dynastic families are nothing but socially sanctioned mafias based on nepotism and various forms of patronage. Now that we have a dynastic family in office, it is inevitable that this will be exposed to public view. Still, it is more than a little ironic for Bush's opponents on both Left and Right to be crying foul as though cronyism is not a permanent feature of the American political landscape. As Rick Brookhiser points out, cronyism has a long history in American politics. And as Jonah Goldberg noted in his qualified defense of cronyism, it is the soul of all political machines.

Abe's Cronies

Lincoln understood this very well, for while he himself was relatively free of nepotism (with the exception of some relatives of Mary Todd), his administration was heavily marked by cronyism. This stands to reason insofar as Lincoln, a man without family, rose to prominence through his talent for forming friendships. And friends delight in being useful to each other. It was Lincoln's Illinois friends who fanned out like a phalanx and got him nominated for the presidency at the Chicago convention, and he left no friend behind when it was time to staff his first administration. (A wonderful book has been written giving chapter and verse on his appointments, called Lincoln and the Patronage.)

Lincoln, having been deeply involved in building the Illinois Republican party, understood that patronage — jobs for the boys — is the sine qua non of a political organization. Ideology is important, but patronage is the glue that holds it together. In the words of G. W. Plunkitt, “Men ain't in politics for nothin'. They expect to get somethin' out of it.” The lifeblood of politics is the undisclosed commerce in favors that goes on behind the scenes. It is a dance of reciprocity: You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Patronage creates a web of obligations, a moral economy based on loyalty and gratitude. As Joseph P. Kennedy's father P. J. Kennedy used to say — a great political boss in his day — "Be grateful and be loyal."

This insight was not lost on FDR, who was arguably the greatest master of patronage in American history. The alphabet soup of federal agencies created by the New Deal was a patronage bonanza, creating over 100,000 new jobs which were listed for convenience in a little volume called the "Plum Book." Somewhere in FDR's correspondence is a brief note written to postmaster James A. Farley — the traditional chief of federal patronage — in regards to a particularly persistent and irritating office seeker: "For god's sake, if you love me, find a place for this woman!"

All of this is very ancient and is essentially coeval with bureaucracy. We can leave out the ancient Chinese imperial civil service and skip ahead to the papal curia. Each cardinal had what was called a "familia" — a retinue of bureaucratic retainers who depended on him for their appointments and sinecures. Since one's fortunes were permanently tied to those of your benefactor, considerable foresight was required in choosing the right patron. The pope's familia was the highest and enjoyed the richest spoils. They also functioned as an engine of mobility in an otherwise static society: Many a priest of humble origin rose to the heights of power and wealth through the patronage of a high-ranking prince of the church, and many became cardinals and popes themselves.

An 18th-century general's staff was likewise called his "military family." The most famous in our history was Washington's, which included the sons of many prominent Virginia families, as well as Alexander Hamilton, a nobody from nowhere who rose through Washington's patronage to the heights of the American establishment. (Hamilton is a great study in nepotism and cronyism, since he started his New York legal practice by exploiting his father-in-law's business connections — exactly as John Adams did.)

Judgment Problem

In all such cases, merit, and patronage were deeply intertwined, since (as I argue in my book on the subject) the informal and unwritten "rules of nepotism" require that patronage be bestowed with discretion on those who will not bring discredit on the patron. The same applies today in modern bureaucratic settings, though considerably modified by the meritocratic values of our technocratic age.

Which brings us to the Bushes. People have been trying to figure out what kind of bubble the Bushes live in for a long time. But it is not the cocoon of wealth that insulates them from reality and explains their frequent missteps and tone-deaf remarks, but that of family itself. The problem for W is that the ethic of friendship and loyalty that the Bushes cultivate and that brought him to power is threatening now to bring him down. He has made the common dynastic mistake of confusing loyalty and merit; in his eyes, the merit of people like Michael Brown and Harriet Miers consists in their being his friends. They are loyal to him, and their loyalty must be rewarded. Thus in Bush, the very loyalty that was a private virtue has become a public vice. His greatest failing is his inability to hold people accountable for their errors. Because they are his creatures, he seems unable to disown them or even to see their faults. This is an inexcusable failing in a democratic leader. As the Machiavellian FDR would be the first to acknowledge, aristocratic virtues have no place in the modern executive. For while Americans do love a prince, they want nothing to do with a king.

[Revolting cat!]

Sorry, it don't rhyme! Grade: D-

[sinkspur]

Michael Brown managed 165 separate disasters including four simultaneous hurricane responses in Florida in 2004, prior to the fiasco in Louisiana. Nagin and Blanco were negligent in their first response duties, but, of course, nobody's going to blame the black man or the girl.

[curiosity]

BTW, it's Cheney.

[Cboldt]

Don't forget Norman Mineta and Christine Todd Whitman.

[MarcusTulliusCicero]

It wasn't specified. From the "reintroduction" of Harriet Miers on Monday (as if we forgot over the weekend that she hasn't much of a clue on Constitutional law.)

"You know, she's a very gracious and funny person," said Joshua B. Bolten, the director of the Office of Management and Budget whom Ms. Miers succeeded as deputy White House chief of staff in 2003. "I was racking my brain trying to think of something specific."

In the next breath, Mr. Bolten recalled relaxing with her at Camp David. "She is a very good bowler," he said. "For someone her size, she actually gets a lot of action out of the pins."

[theFIRMbss]

>why don't you guys try dealing with the substance of the article?

Because hate don't learn.
Hate goes on forever, and
special interest groups

pay trolls to put out
endless crap throughout the net.
If you take the bait

all your waking hours
will be spent in pointless flames
while trolls are laughing.

[finnigan2]

".... why don't you guys try dealing with the substance of the article?"

- Because in terms of substance, there's no there, there.
Anybody who tries to make the case that Presidents should appoint people they don't know or people they can't trust to positions where they can do them more harm than good hasn't been paying attention to the way this government has operated since around about 1776.

[curiosity]

Michael Brown managed 165 separate disasters including four simultaneous hurricane responses in Florida in 2004,

Yeah, he was learning on the job. Prior to those 2004 hurricanes, he had zero experience with disaster relief. Thankfully, there were competent state officials in Florida, so it didn't matter much in 2004. We weren't so lucky in New Orleans.

Nagin and Blanco were negligent in their first response duties

No argument there. IMHO, they bear the bulk of the responsibility. It doesn't excuse the Brown appointment, though.

[Cboldt]

Mr. Bolten recalled relaxing with her at Camp David. "She is a very good bowler," he said.

Ten pin then. Good to know that. Thanks for the cite.

[skip_intro]

Don't forget Norman Mineta and Christine Todd Whitman.

Nothing on earth can explain Norman Mineta.

[theFIRMbss]

>BTW, it's Cheney [yep!]

Aw, Google screwed me.
If you image search "Chaney,"
you get lots of hits!

[curiosity]

Anybody who tries to make the case that Presidents should appoint people they don't know...

Why don't you try reading the article before criticizing it?

[CGTRWK]

Senate hearings are a charade for public consumption by the politically barely aware.

Miers is still Miers. There will be no revelations. She won't miraculously discover a track record of sound originalist interpretation in the next two weeks.

The Senators who are going to vote against her will rephrase the same stupid questions again and again, and pretend to think about it.

The Senators who are going to vote for her will do the same thing.

[bray]

Gee, when clinton did it it was Friends and now they are Cronies!! Too bad our Conservative brothers are falling for it too. Must be nice to just bash Bush when the going gets tough??

Pray for W and Our Victorious Troops

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Michael Brown managed 165 separate disasters including four simultaneous hurricane responses in Florida in 2004, prior to the fiasco in Louisiana.

How did Brown come to work with FEMA?

[USPatriette]

"Mike Brown, Harriet Meiers [sic]."

This juxtaposition is extremely unfair. I certainly hope it is not an intentional distortion.

[curiosity]

Gee, when clinton did it it was Friends and now they are Cronies

It was wrong when Clinton did it, and it is wrong when Bush does it.

[sinkspur]

Yeah, he was learning on the job. Prior to those 2004 hurricanes, he had zero experience with disaster relief.

Absolute nonsense. He was second-in-command to Joe Allbaugh. That's where he got his experience with the other 161 disasters.

Thankfully, there were competent state officials in Florida, so it didn't matter much in 2004

There were competent state and local officials for ALL of the other 164 disasters.

Then we get to Louisiana, and the local officials look like Ned in the third reader, and actually HINDER the FEMA response.

But, Brown takes the bullet.

[etradervic]

If the writer were a dog, he would chew his own tail.

[sinkspur]

How did Brown come to work with FEMA?

Who cares? He proved himself competent in 164 disasters prior to Katrina. He gets fired because Kathleen Babineaux Blanco doesn't want to turn loose of her National Guard and Ray Nagin's cops are lootin' and shootin' right alongside the thugs.