Bruce Bartlett was interviewed about his book Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, published by Doubleday. In the book he criticized the current president’s economic policies as politically expedient rather than principled, saying that he had abandoned conservative fiscal policies. He claimed that President Bush is only a “pretend” conservative and does not understand the principals that President Reagan espoused, such as preserving liberty by having a small government. He detailed the policy differences and leadership of various presidential administrations.
Syndicated columnist Bruce Bartlett was formerly the executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, (the Congressional counterpart to the President’s Council of Economic Advisers), and former deputy assistant secretary for economic policy for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He was interviewed by James Pinkerton, who also served in the Bush and Reagan administrations, and is currently a columnist for Newsday and contributor to the Fox News Channel.