Thursday, September 15, 2005

The test of leadership is results, not press clippings

Is Bush the commanding, decisive, jovial president you've been hearing about for years in so much of the mainstream press?

Maybe not so much.

Judging from the blistering analyses in Time, Newsweek, and elsewhere these past few days, it turns out that
Bush is in fact fidgety, cold and snappish in private.
He yells at those who dare give him bad news and is therefore not surprisingly surrounded by an echo chamber of terrified sycophants.
He is slow to comprehend concepts that don't emerge from his gut.
He is uncomprehending of the speeches that he is given to read.

And oh yes, one of his most significant legacies -- the immense post-Sept. 11 reorganization of the federal government which created the Homeland Security Department -- has failed a big test.

This is from Dan Froomkin at the Washington post.

Oh, yes. The results. Bush has failed to stop 9/11, failed to occupy Iraq successfully, and failed to prepare to deal with the Hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast. The economy is marginal at best and about to get worse. Only the fed keeping interest rates low has maintained the marginal results we have seen in the last few years, and the increase in gasoline prices are going to cost business a lot.

The best Bush can say is that he got reelected. Sad for America.

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