Robert F. Kennedy once said, "Richard Nixon represents the dark side of the American spirit." Well, RFK never met George W. Bush.

Not since the days of Tricky Dick has the White House seen such a secretive, paranoid and vengeance-filled occupant. President Bush may not have the Plumbers, CREEP (the Committee to Re-elect the President), or the "Enemies List", but in its essence his administration has all the same hallmarks as the Nixon team. The politics of retribution, secrecy, and infallibility are eerily familiar, only the names (Haldeman, Erlichman, and Mitchell versus Cheney, Rove and Ashcroft) have changed.

George W. Bush, a man who came to office pledging to bring honor and integrity back to the White House and who claimed to be "a uniter, not divider", has proven to be small, petty, mean-spirited and venal as president. His politics first and foremost are characterized by the "Payback Principle," with vengeance for those crossing him or his team, even, it seems, to the point of breaking the law. Second, the Bush team's paranoia manifests itself as extreme political cowardice, and an almost pathological refusal to admit error, as we'll see in the case of Iraqi WMDs and 9/11 below. By comparison, the administration's fixation with secrecy seems merely idiosyncratic.

Hell Hath No Fury Like a W Scorned

The Payback Principle, George W. Bush's almost unquenchable need for revenge, was first and amply demonstrated in his 1994 campaign for governor of Texas. His race against Ann Richards was more than a quest for power. It was fundamentally to seek retribution against Richards, whose barbs at the 1992 Democratic Convention ("poor George…he was born with a silver foot in his mouth!") he saw as part of his father's defeat by Bill Clinton. Bush defeated Richards in a savage campaign, one that among other niceties featured GOP rumor mongering of Richards' alcoholism. (Given Bush's own history of a DUI and an ultimatum from his wife, this is all the more galling.)

As President, Bush's penchant for intimidation and punishment has reached new heights. The case of Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame is probably the most notorious and most serious, but hardly an isolated instance. Wilson's op-ed piece on July 6, 2003 in the New York Times debunked the administration's claim in the 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. He noted that his investigations there on behalf of the White House in 2002 showed that documentation of Iraqi contacts were fraudulent and without foundation.

In response, the Bush team sought retribution against Wilson. Through a leak to conservative columnist Robert Novak, administration personnel public revealed the identity of Wilson's wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame. The revelation not only effectively ended Plame's career and potentially put her life at risk, it also likely broke the law. Breaching national security, violating the law and jeopardizing the life of an American agent are apparently all in a day's work for a Bush team for whom payback is job one. (The investigation into the leak, which featured a belated recusal from Attorney General Ashcroft, is now centering on aides to Dick Cheney.)

An early indication of the vindictiveness of this administration came with the saga of Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords' defection from the GOP in 2001. This is a tale of double-retribution. First, Jeffords refused to back the Bush tax cut plan in 2001. As The New Republic reported in June 2001, the White House responded by gutting special education programs supported by Jeffords and by threatening the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact critical to the Vermont milk industry. To add insult to injury, the Bush team took the unprecedented step of not inviting Jeffords to a White House event honoring a teacher from Vermont. They even denied Jeffords' office White House tour passes for his constituents. His departure from the GOP seemed understandable then and now; his one-time colleagues of course are making his tenure as an independent a lonely one.

The Bush White House, like Nixon's before him, reserves a unique brand of venom for the press. It's not just that this administration limits access to the President, has had the fewest press conferences of any in recent memory, and featured an often dissembling and frequently out-of-the-loop press secretary in Ari Fleischer. As bad as those failings are, worse still is the administration's punishment of those who dare to write or report negatively on Bush and his policies.

Consider the case of Dana Milbank of the Washington Post (and formerly of The New Republic). Whereas Bob Woodward was given carte blanche with Bush and his White House for his hagiographic book Bush at War and his earlier article, "10 Days in September", Milbank, who has written critical pieces in the past including coverage of the energy task force and Salvation Army discrimination policy, was hounded by Karl Rove and the Bush team even before taking on the White House beat. As the American Prospect reported in March 2002, Rove called Milbank's editors at the Post and asked that Milbank not be assigned to the White House, a request they refused. The press office regularly attacks his reporting and continues to complain to his editors. As one White House correspondent who would not be quoted by name for the American Prospect story said:

"I don't know if there's a physical blacklist - I'm sure they wouldn't be stupid enough to actually put it down in an e-mail. But there seems to be a system within the White House of retribution. Basically, if you write something [negative], it's like at the communication meeting with [Bush senior adviser] Karen Hughes the message goes out that so-and-so's on the blacklist -- in some cases for that day, in some cases for that week."

The pettiness of the Bush team manifests itself in so many ways as to prevent cataloging them all here. For example, for over a year, Bush shunned German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as payback for his lack of support in the war against Iraq. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, in addition to his "Old Europe" comments, also turned his back on our leading continental NATO ally, refusing to sit or speak with his German counterpart during a meeting of European defense ministers. Not surprisingly, following the war, President Bush flatly refused to allow German, French or Russian companies to bid for Iraqi reconstruction projects. This childish behavior is beyond embarrassing; government by temper tantrum is no way to run the world's lone superpower.

This president's smallness and partisanship even extend to the dead. Commenting in the tragic death of the popular Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone in an October 25, 2002 plane crash, this was the best Bush could muster for an opponent:

"Paul Wellstone was a man of deep convictions, a plain-spoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country. May the good Lord bless those who grieve." [Italics mine]

Compare to that to his glowing words on June 27, 2003 for the late Republican Senator from South Carolina, the racist and segregationist Strom Thurmond:

"Senator Strom Thurmond led an extraordinary life. He served in the Army during World War II, earning a Bronze Star for valor and landing at Normandy on D-Day. He served his country as Senator, Governor, and state legislator and was a beloved teacher, coach, husband, father, and grandfather. While campaigning across South Carolina with him in 1988, I saw first hand the tremendous love he had for his constituents, and the admiration the people of South Carolina had for him. He was also a friend and I was honored to have hosted his 100th birthday at the White House. Laura joins me in sending our prayers and condolences to the entire Thurmond family. He will be missed. [Italics mine]

In 1994, President Bill Clinton spoke eloquently of the late Richard Nixon, a man who disgraced the White House and sought to subvert the Constitution. President George W. Bush apparently felt no such obligation for Wellstone.

1. Hell Hath No Fury Like a W Scorned
2. Being W Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry
3. Secrets and Lies