President Bush is a man who knows his own mind—which, granted, ain’t much to crow about, given its overall lack of complexity. A Nobel laureate he is not. If a great mind is a castle, Mr. Bush is the proud owner of a rustic shack. And he knows its every dusty crevice. He is at home there, comfortable with its crude decor and sparse furnishings. Indeed, he is too at home there, as he actively—even defiantly—disdains that which doesn’t fit his parochial world view. And he doesn’t take kindly to being told what he ought to do or how he ought to proceed. He is obstinate in his refusal to accept or even consider alternative views, bringing to mind a petulant child who shouts: “No, I won’t! And you can’t make me!� His ever popular signing statements are nothing more than the sullen protestations of a provincial man-child, who closes his eyes and his mind when they most need to be open.

Consider the latest puerile signing statement by Mr. Bush, as reported in yesterday’s Washington Post:

Bush Balks at Criteria for FEMA Director

President Bush reserved the right to ignore key changes in Congress’s overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — including a requirement to appoint someone with experience handling disasters as the agency’s head — in setting aside dozens of provisions contained in a major homeland security spending bill this week.

Besides objecting to Congress’s list of qualifications for FEMA’s director, the White House also claimed the right to edit or withhold reports to Congress by a watchdog agency within the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for protecting Americans’ personal privacy.

The standards for the FEMA director were inspired by criticism of former FEMA chief Michael D. Brown’s performance after Hurricane Katrina last year. Brown, a lawyer and judge of Arabian horses, had no experience in disaster response before joining FEMA.

Bush’s moves came in a controversial assertion of executive authority known as a “signing statement,â€? which the White House issued late Wednesday, the same day the president signed the $34.8 billion measure. Congress has assailed the unprecedented extent of Bush’s use of signing statements to reinterpret or repudiate measures approved by lawmakers instead of exercising a formal veto….

Lawmakers in both parties — Democrats more harshly than Republicans — said Bush was ignoring precedent and neglecting lessons of the bungled response to Katrina. [full text]

Though the assailing winds may blow, the rustic shack does not sway. It creaks its simple song of scorn, heh heh heh heh.