It's clear now what a disaster that peremptory three-page plan from Hank Paulson was. I'm sure it was always planned as something to be changed and expanded, but, really, to put in writing no oversight and major decision-making power in the Treasury secretary's hands? That was bound to start an institutional war with Congress. It's the kind of mistake a new administration makes in its first year.
Bush, for his part, did a godawful job selling the plan. Giving his speech last week, he looked like a student delivering a book report on a book he hadn't read. The Bush people obviously just didn't anticipate the groundswell of opposition, but they should have.
