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Conclusion: Potential Pitfalls on the Road to Election 2004
The metaphor of “two presidencies” offers a lens onto the presidency’s two quite
different sources of authority, one conventional and the other national security and war related.
Each “presidency” is a response to specific contextual conditions and has its own basis of
authority. Additionally, each of these presidencies entails a different kind of relationship of the
incumbent to the public, as well as to other branches of government. So powerful are the effects
of each of these different combinations of context and authority that George W. Bush’s
leadership has been notably different within each. In a conventional presidential context, Bush
appeared distracted in office, communicated clumsily with the public, and lacked a sense of
mandate. After September 11, Bush became a focused leader capable of rallying the nation. The
context of war raised the stakes for George W. Bush’s leadership. It focused him and demanded
his deepest personal resources.
This chapter has additionally analyzed George W. Bush’s conduct of his national security
presidency, focusing upon the authority he has garnered through that role, the tools through
which he has expressed that authority, and his consequent impact on government. Finally, the
chapter raised the political question of central importance for the Bush administration; how does
the national security presidency’s advantages translate into the pursuit of domestic policy and the
politics of the 2004 election?
We have observed some ways that President Bush is attempting to leverage domestic
policy and politics as a war president. However, his success is not guaranteed because the war
presidency itself is an unstable role. How Bush fares politically will depend on Americans’
perceptions of his Iraq policy, on their views of the American economy, and not least, on the
awful contingency of terrorism. Bush’s war presidency could erode if events do not reinforce it.
Convention