Impostor

the long version

George W. Bush came to the presidency in 2000 claiming to be the heir of Ronald Reagan. Reaganite economist Bartlett started out as a supporter of Bush and helped him craft his tax cuts, but he was dismayed by the way they were executed, and has reluctantly concluded that Bush is not a Reaganite at all, but an unprincipled opportunist. He predicts that within a few years, Bush's tax cuts and unrestricted spending will produce an economic crisis that will require a major tax increase. Bartlett has surprisingly kind words for Clinton, whose record on the budget was far better than Bush's. In fact, Bartlett concludes, Bush is less like Reagan than like Nixon: an arch-conservative Republican, bitterly hated by liberals, who vainly tried to woo moderates by enacting big parts of the liberal program. It didn't work then, and it won't work now.--From publisher description.