Recently the soundbite of the day was "What did the President know and when did he know it?" The answer of course is "nothing," and so asking when he came to know that nothing is meaningless. The question is post 9-11 thinking. As the White House was quick to remind us, the world is completely different than it was on September 10. On September 10 Bush was not the modern day Winston Churchill he's since been dusted up to be. He was widely understood to be a no-nothing goof-off. And the American people were by and large content with having him so.

I'm not suggesting Bush is an idiot. But he is, at best, detached. He doesn't know or care because he's never had to. He was given a Vice-Presidency in Daddy's business, and daddy's business just happens to be world domination. Now he's the CEO, but Poppy and his associates still run the Board of Directors.

Prez Bush never bothered to learn the name of Pakistan's self-appointed president, the location of Afghanistan or any of thousands of other salient facts because it wasn't seen as necessary to the performance of his job. Osama bin Laden was just another of the cartoon villains populating his insulated universe. Reagan proved that the engaged President was not actually necessary. Almost anybody will do, really, with the right handlers.

Many voters and the whole corporate media figured Bush didn't need to know anything because he had such a deep well of talent to draw from. Of course that well consists mostly of Poppy's friends and associates, it's not so much a brain trust as a collection of second string Nixonites, unreformed felons from off-the-books Latin American dirty wars, and power-drunk energy executives. The only reason this team has ever been taken seriously as a credible player in a stable and secure world is because no one bothers to really analyze anything anymore.

Even before September 11 the basic press line was, the Bush team are America's leaders, America is a powerful, just, and wise nation, therefore the Bush team are, when it all comes down to it, powerful, just, and wise, even if Jr. still has some learnin' to do. Even before September 11 it was "unpatriotic" to question the honesty or ethics of the Bush team in having the election arranged to their expedient satisfaction. They might have played hardball, but it was plain old American hardball.

Remember the military vote? Those late ballots mailed in from overseas by Florida servicemen overseas fighting the war on terrorism? Somebody was fighting that war before Bush became aware of it on August 6 and a little more on September 11.

We all knew, of course. Congress was briefed, corporations were beefing up their security measures, police departments were exploring new tactics and weapons to combat any number of terrorist threats. The media reminded everybody all the time that the terrorists were out there and they could strike any moment. Bin Laden was already on the FBI's ten most wanted list.

The Bush team wasn't unaware of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden. They didn't know specific details, date, time, and targets maybe, but they knew pretty much everything else. Even while John Ashcroft was deciding to stop traveling by commercial aircraft because of a "threat assessment," the Bushites were calling off the dogs set upon bin Laden by the Clinton administration.

It's not that Cheney's warriors weren't doing anything about terrorism or Al Qaida before September. They just preferred to keep it in the family and off the record.

And that is where the trouble lies. They aren't really competent to establish the new world order they are often accused of plotting. They're certainly elitist and ruthless enough to have at least that general idea in mind. But they've got too many ideological blind spots and contradictory needs to really take over the world. Despite the US media's fervent bluster, we really don't have unilateral sway. And the Bush administration makes sure that sway is eroded a little more each day.

They really appear to believe they can bully the rest of the world into submission, blithely go about their business, and make every other nation put their own clashes on hold long enough to consolidate our holdings in their part of the world.

The Bushites' goal of a globalized economy with US energy elites in control requires international stability. But they need the perception if not the reality of constant uncertainty and danger to justify their operating style, boost their polls, and keep themselves relevant. They are, in essence, trying to build a house of cards with a hammer, cuz hammers are what they know.

They also know their enemies, who curiously enough are in most cases former associates. One of Junior's most prized inheritances from his father is the feud with Sadaam Hussein, not to mention that curious business between the Bush and bin Laden families. It's hardly an accident that everything around the Bush Cartel revolves around oil and energy. That's the heart of power, both economic and political.

Not only are riches in oil and strategic location to be had with a successful toppling of Sadaam Hussein and installation of a proxy government, but the Bush clan can take care of a matter of family honor.

The end result will be the Bush Administration destroying itself. The question isn't so much how to defeat the Bush program but how to prevent their gang war with their rivals from killing any more innocents. That has less to do with wondering how smart or informed Bush is than with how smart and informed we are.