I Mean Really, Who is in Charge?

Josh, recently, as a single example:

Back before the election, Andrew Sullivan said the 2006 midterm was shaping up not so much as an election as a collective national intervention. But do you get the sense now that it was a failed one?

I don't mean that in the sense that it was a failed election or that the Democrats have fallen short in any way. I mean more specifically about the president.

I go around the web and I see headlines like, Will President Listen to What James Baker Says?

Then there's Stephen Hadley saying, Believe Me, the President Knows Something Has to Change.

It's like hearing from relatives and friends that so and so knows he has to make a change. But will he?

And this is the guy running the country?

Link.

My question is: Does Our Leader truly lead the administration? Or is he led, no more than a cheerleader, a front man for the real policy-makers? Put it this: How much influence does he carry in the administration? Can he say "I don't want to do this?" or "I want to this?" Are we stuck in Iraq for another two years just because W can't wrap his mind around developing any sort of plan that would result in an exit strategy?

Simply: Who is really in charge? Is it really Bush? Or is he amongst the led?
lead