I am always baffled when I read about how George W. Bush governed this way or that in Texas before he was sent to the White House by the Supreme Court. Bush was as clueless as governor as he has been as president. Fortunately he had a lieutenant governor -- a Democrat -- named Bob Bullock who knew where the levers of power were, and guided Bush through his term-and-a-half as governor.

There is a story about how Bush wandered onto the floor of Bullock's state Senate while that body was in session -- something that is traditionally not done -- and the lieutenant governor walked up to him and quietly called him a ”cocky little m----r f----r.“ That doesn't sound like someone awed by the governor's power.