George W. Bush: Evaluating the President at Midterm

1. The Arbiter of Fate The Presidential Character of George W. Bush

Chapter 1 The Arbiter of Fate The Presidential Character of George W. Bush Bill Kirtley 19 INTRODUCTION Character counts when a nation chooses its president, and George W. Bush raised character to the level of a campaign issue in 2000. Scholars and partisans agree that character is vitally important; however, they use the word to mean different things.The Greeks coined the word “charakter,” meaning “to engrave.” Today it refers to moral strength and discipline, an individual’s distinctive traits, or even a person considered decidedly different. In his seminal work The Presidential Character, James David Barber, a political scientist now retired from Duke University, viewed character as an individual’s pattern of behavior or personality.1 He used this view of character to analyze Richard Nixon and to predict the eventual crises and tragedies of the Nixon administration. This chapter seeks to use Barber’s arguments to illuminate the character of our current president and utilizes a three-part structure for the investigation: Barber’s argument in The Presidential Character is explained; Barber’s ideas are used to structure a biography of George W. Bush’s formative years and classify his personality; and the exciting and dangerous activity of predicting how George W. Bush will react to future events is undertaken. In so doing, the criticisms of Barber’s work are taken into consideration, and the analysis of George W. Bush’s character is mindful of the limitations of such efforts. Barber’s Argument Barber believed that there were five parts to personality, and that they developed sequentially over time. The first and most important element of personality was character. For this reason, Barber often used the terms interchangeably. Character 20 THE ARBITER OF FATE is developed in childhood, and it is the unique aspect of personality that defines who we are and how we relate to our environment. Barber argued that character was the most accurate predictor of behavior in adulthood.2 A worldview is gained in adolescence. It is the way one perceives social causality, human nature, and the central moral conflicts of one’s time.3 Style is acquired in early adulthood. It is the most obvious aspect of personality, as it is a way of acting. Style involves the ability to perform political activities involving personal relations, rhetoric, and work ethic.4 A president’s first political success marked his adoption of a style in early adulthood. Barber believed it was the key to understanding character.5 Presidential personalities operate in specific political situations that Barber called the “environment.” Presidents succeed when they develop strategies to satisfy their needs and the environment has the potential to fulfill them. If their needs are not met, they become frustrated and angry. Barber believed there were two significant environmental factors, the climate of expectations and the power situation when a president takes office.6 Taken together, all of these aforementioned factors assist us in understanding presidential character. Character Types Barber argued that there were two ways of describing character: presidential activism (active-passive) and whether the president enjoyed politics (positivenegative ). These two dimensions yield four types. Active-positive types are energetic workers with high self-esteem.They are self-motivated, result oriented, and relate well to the environment. Active-negative types also invest a lot of energy in the job, but they do so for different reasons. They are compulsive workers motivated by ambition. Passive-positive types seek affirmation. They react to events and the opinions of others.They enjoy their jobs and value their leisure. Passivenegative types are withdrawn and exhibit low self-esteem. They work determinedly out of a sense of duty.7 Barber classified fifteen American presidents using this typology of character types. He believed that active-positive types generally made the best presidents and active-negative types the worst.8 Critique Barber’s arguments are used because they are notable and enjoyed a degree of success in predicting the future. Adherence to them might help avoid the partisanship prevalent in many biographies of Bush. However, criticism of Barber’s arguments, as well as his vigorous defense of his work, should be noted before they are applied to Bush. In an otherwise favorable review in the New York Times Book Review, historian Bruce Mazlish charged that the prospect of isolating a few events from the entirety of human life and basing predictions upon them seemed doubtful, especially considering the varied nature of Barber...