ENRON : taking our cue from the world of object relations

As a boy, summering with his extended family in Kennebunkport, Maine, George W. Bush was Boss Cousin: the oldest in a swarm of his own brothers (and sister) and the sons and daughters of his aunts and uncles. They played games all day, from tag to tennis to basketball. George, one of the players told me years later, very much liked to win - and, as oldest siblings always do, wrote the rules (or rewrote) them to guarantee it. That's the way he prefers to operate even now. Karl Rove, the president's longtime political consigliere, calls them 'game-changing moves'. Bush likes to outmaneuver his foes by using his clout to change the game itself. It's worked many times.