Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] [POLITICS] interesting article from a former Bush supporter

["Jonathan King" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 5/19/06, Vern Green <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> >
> This is nonsense Mike. If you want someone to succeed, you support
> them. You try and guide them through the decision making process by
> letting them know what you believe is right.

This is nonsense, Vern.  If somebody is engaging in behavior that you
know will make them less successful, you need to do something I would
not equate with the intuitive meaning of "support them".  First, you
do praise/reward/support them when they do make appropriate actions.
Second, you let them know when their actions are inappropriate.  In
some cases, that reminder could be very gentle, but in others, you
might really have to get into that person's face.

Three very strong personal qualities of George W. Bush are these:

1) He does not listen to criticism, and shuts out contrary opinions
and evidence.
2) He does not revisit his decisions willingly, even when he realizes
that things may not
   have gone well.
3) He equates flexibility with weakness.

To be honest about it, none of these qualities are intrinsic to his
particular political beliefs or to anybody's beliefs or ideology.
Similarly, he's hardly alone in the world in having these qualities.
But these qualities are precisely NOT ones you would like to see in a
leader when things are not going well, and when there are many
alternative actions you might take.

> Let me ask you this, do you want your son to succeed? Do you support
> your son? Those are personal questions and I ask them only
> hypothetically, I don't want you to answer them. However, if the
> answer to those questions is yes, then you have to continue to support
> your son when he fails to live up to your standards in the hope that
> he will "come around".

This is misleading.  What you don't do is "give up" on your son.  You
would continually engage him, but "support" does not mean
"unconditionally praise".  It really doesn't.  Meanwhile,  I find the
analogy here quite inappropriate.  George W. Bush is not a child.
What we are looking for here is not a parenting strategy that exists
in an environment of unconditional love (which is what I have for my
kids, even if I have to help them change their behavior).

What we are looking for here is more something like accountability.
Bush was asked the other day why he thought his poll numbers were so
low.  He replied that he thought people were just unsettled, maybe
because of the war.

Now, to be sure, outside influences certainly have an effect on the
polls.  Both Bush and Congress enjoyed 90% support after 9/11, even
though they had not taken any specific actions yet.  A reflective
person would not have looked at those high numbers and seen it as a
personal mandate.  Similarly, it's healthy to realize that low
approval today might not be entirely your fault either.  But if you
apparenly see no connection between polls that have dropped into the
high 20s and anything you have done...this is problematic.  Effective
leaders have a strong sense of personal responsibility, which is part
of why they will, when necessary, change their actions if their
actions are just not getting the job done.

A specific example:  Ronald Reagan was very enamored with tax cuts in
his first year in office, but by the third year or so,  he realized
(reluctantly, I'm sure) that the wished-for effect of better budget
deficit numbers due to the tax cuts just wasn't happened, so he
swallowed hard and supported changes (and partial reversals) of the
tax plan he had originally championed.  Now, he didn't brag about
this, and Reagan was not an unstubborn man in many ways, but...he did
what he thought had to be done.  This is exactly the kind of thing
that George Bush just really doesn't do.  Not when it's about taxes,
about our foreign policy, our stance on global wrming, or anything
else.

I think this, more  than anything else, is what has finally begun to
change the opinions of more serious conservative writers and thinkers,
and people in the general public.

jking

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