As the days of George W. Bush’s final term in office grind slowly onward, the president increasingly finds himself on the opposite side of issues from the American public. While a normal president might care about this — strong leaders usually position themselves at the head of the parade — Pres. Bush really doesn’t give a damn what “the people” think.

In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, Jonathan Chait that Bush’s juvenile behavior reminds him of an episode from the “Twilight Zone” about a young boy who is given super powers that he is too immature to use wisely:

Through the misuse of his powers, the little boy has ruined the lives of everybody in the town — for instance, teleporting them into a cornfield, or summoning a snowstorm that destroys their crops. Because anyone who thinks an unhappy thought will be banished, the adults around him can do nothing but cheerfully praise his decisions while they try to nudge him in a less destructive direction.

Chait says he was reminded of the “Twilight Zone” episode when he read an account in Time Magazine of the behind-the-scenes coddling required to get Bush onboard the formation of the Iraq Study Group last spring. Three people involved in organizing the group approached Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice first:

“As the trio departed, a Rice aide asked one of her suitors not to inform anyone at the Pentagon that chairmen had been chosen and the study group was moving forward. If Rumsfeld was alerted to the study group’s potential impact, the aide said, he would quickly tell Cheney, who could, with a few words, scuttle the whole thing. Rice got through to Bush the next day, arguing that the thing was going to happen anyway, so he might as well get on board. To his credit, the President agreed.”

The article treats this exchange in a matter-of-fact way, but, what it suggests is completely horrifying. Rice apparently believed that Bush would simply follow the advice of whoever he spoke with. Therefore the one factor determining whether Bush would support the commission was whether Cheney or Rice managed to get to him first.

The Founders did not offer a list of job requirements for the office of the presidency but I’m sure they intended it to be filled by men of at least adequate skills. Maybe it sounds over the top, but I really do worry that the United States may not survive the next two years intact.