Ethics

McClellan's New Book

By Ed Brayton

As you probably know by now, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan has a new book out that apparently really goes after the Bush administration on a number of things. Some of those criticisms, as I've seen them cited in the press, I can buy; some of them I can't. For instance, I don't buy his claim that he was misled over the Valerie Plame situation. I think he almost certainly knew what was going on and he peddled the company line anyway.

But one of the criticisms he makes is obviously on target and I don't think it applies only to the Bush administration. I think it applies to every modern administration, where policy is made primarily on the basis of the political advantage one can gain from it rather than on whether it will actually do any good. Managing image and perception have become the goal rather than governing effectively. Like this passage:

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on May 30, 2008 (boomark / email).