Matthew Yglesias proposes a unified theory of Bush domestic policy:

TPMCafe || Domestic Policy By Idiots: Ordinary political movements take one of two stances on the idea of launching a big, expensive new program to have the government deliver some services. Either they favor such endeavors, or else they oppose them. The Bush Republicans have chosen a third way -- they don't favor this sort of thing, but they implement it anyway in search of political gains and ways of funneling money toward their financial supporters. The result is disaster. Keep in mind that these poor policy outcomes aren't really mistakes or the much-cited "incompetence." It's malice. As during the post-Katrina recovery, the fear is that if you design a program well, people will like it, and support for the dread "big government" will grow. New programs must be poorly designed in order to "prove" that such things don't work.