Regrettably, I believe Bush likened (and terribly misread) working with Democrats from the Texas legislature to working with establishment, DC Democrats when he rose to the White House.
In his heart, I believe he sought a convivial atmosphere for genuine bipartisan cooperation (which he became accustomed to in TX) and occasionally threw them a few bones (No Child Left Behind, bloated budgets), yet in the end, it bit him in the rear.
Moreover, as much as I like Dick Cheney, I believe the neo-cons did a great degree of disservice to his presidency and harm to the GOP. Despite that, all future maneuvering and corruption by Obama & Co. in the executive and legislative branches cannot be pinned on or attributed to President Bush and Karl Rove.
“Regrettably, I believe Bush likened (and terribly misread) working with Democrats from the Texas legislature to working with establishment, DC Democrats when he rose to the White House.”
This is true. In Texas, some Dems were reasonable (not any more). The national Democrats are 100% lockstep partisan left-liberals, and it was foolish for Bush not to realize it, as his own father got burned by that as well. Bipartisan = liberal policies that Republicans sign up for.