A few days ago, I posted an article about people sleepdriving, sleepeating and doing other things while asleep after taking Ambien. Maybe Bush can use that as an excuse for so much of his and his people’s incompetence.
Too tired to think: team Bush loses its way
There is no shortage of theories to explain the seemingly growing dysfunction in the Bush administration. I don’t mean by this the flawed structural decisions to invade and occupy Iraq with half the troops needed, to add trillions to the national debt with no way on earth to pay them back, to expend a vast amount of energy on social security reform while Iraq went to hell (and get no social security reform anyway). I mean the daily, tactical decisions that can so easily derail any government.
Although it hurts me to differ with the Pet Shop Boys, Bush is not stupid. But his administration is reeling from one mishap to another. So let me proffer another explanation for the sometimes comically inept gang that cannot shoot straight, unless it’s at an elderly lawyer mistaken for a duck.
They’re tired. Not just tired, actually, but exhausted. They can barely keep their eyes open. They’re sleepwalking through their second term. And you cannot really blame them.
Naw… I’d have to go with tired…
After all, you’d be surprised how exausting it is to engeneer the destruction of the Constituiton, personal rights, property rights, etc., all under the name of democracy and terrorism…
So, if it’s not stupidity to make yourself so insular that your reality distortion field is a black hole compared to Steve Jobs red dwarf, what is it? I suspect other administrations have worked more (Oh wait, compared to this mister-vacation prez, definitely worked more) and still didn’t “fall asleep”.
So name it. Not stupid, just……
blinded by the light?
arrogant to a fault?
Incompetent?
fascism lite (sold the country to the corporations)
During WWII W.H. Auden pointed out that we become what we fight
“I and the public know
“What all schoolchildren learn,
“Those to whom evil is done
“Do evil in return”
Ah there we go: perhaps they are “terrorists”?
I know I’m terrorized by what they, and their defenders, are doing.
That’s correct…it does take a lot of energy to undo 8 years of hill and billary
Right on BillyD!
And as a fake Republican let me say that it is a proven fact that BJ Bill Clinton slept 5 times as much as Bush.
Furthermore when do you stupid lefties think the terrorists will strike? Of course when Bush is asleep. Thanks to your Godless homo run media you have now revealed vital presidential sleep pattern information to our mortal enemies.
I read this article by Andrew Sullivan in the London Times Saturday. Good article, but I don’t think it excuses the blunders(nor does it try to) that have been made.
But the point of the article is right on, ANY administration has the same problem. It is very draining to deal with this world(corecctly or not) that we live in. And lets face it, this bunch has had more major problems to deal with than most. Just for no other reason than to let in some fresh air, it is good that people leave and be replaced.
I honestly believe that the job of running this country and dealing with the outside world is just far beyond the abilities of any one man or woman. But, would a collective leadership be worse?
We still think that when we elect our Kings(no queens yet, at least not since Buchanon) that they will solve all our problems in 4 or 8 years.
Ain’t happening folks.
Although it hurts me to differ with the Pet Shop Boys, Bush is not stupid. But his administration is reeling from one mishap to another.
Sorry, but I agree with the Pet Shop Boys, who ever they are.
This administration is intent upon simply doing what they think they want. There are no plans to do it, just that tired old expression “just do it”. More intelligent people will think through an action. It is simply not enough to bull s**t your way to it.
Clinton had one initiative fail, universal health care. It failed not because it was a bad idea, but because it was Clinton’s idea, the republicans needed to make their mark after taking over Congress, and the Insurance lobby was too well fueled.
In contrast,
Bush had had the Afghan War fail, we still haven’t caught bin Laden;
the Iraq War fail, the costs of the war are many times what they were claimed to be, the war hasn’t been won, we are trapped in Iraq;
Social Security Reform, it died on the way to Congress;
Alaska Oil, is still a dead issue;
Immigration, there is no policy except open the doors;
Uniting America, the country has never been so polarized;
Dubai Ports, dies under a massive objection by Congress and America.
Looking at Bushes failed initiatives, all of them failed because of a lack of planning.
Stop being so optimistic Mr. Fusion.
I don’t believe Bush is stupid. I don’t believe he is inherantly evil either.
If anyone has ever planned anything out carefully and had it all fall apart because of unforseen or unplanned events, then they know how *plans* don’t always work out as *planned*.
Mistakes were made, and Bush didn’t make the corrections that were nessesary, and his people didn’t either.
The success or failure of the Afgan war dosen’t hinge on the capture or death of Osama Bin Laden. It hinges on getting a country that has been at war of one kind or another for almost 30 years finally having a stable goverment and some progress in solving some of it’s other problems. War isn’t going to McDonalds for fries and a coke, it’s not an instant gratification game. In the best of circumstances bringing about a countries recovery is a long road, and usually a hard one, and lets face it, Afganistan is not by any stretch of the imagination the *best of circumstances*.
Iraq is another area where errors in judgement and planning happened, I honestly feel that Bush felt that the Iraqi’s would be happy that Saddam was gone, his people in the state department and others brought many distigushed Iraqi exiles to him and they all sold him on the idea that thats what would happen. Well, it didn’t. And we all know the results.
I keep hearing the stuff about Bush lied to us about the WMD’s, but when you really look at what took place, the reports by our CIA and every other western nation with intel capabilities all said this to be true.
This had been the same for several years before Bush as well, Clinton got the same kind of reports. We are learning from speaking to some of Saddams highest ranking Generals that THEY believed Iraq had WMD and were as shocked as we were when it turned out to be different.
The audio tapes being released finally also show that Saddam had either the WMD or the materials to build them and they were shifted to Syria.
But, we are there and we either have to do our best to get a stable goverment formed and an Iraqi military that can defend itself, before we can leave that country, or we need to just say….screw it….see you later guys and split. Either way, we are still in for a world of hurt, for years to come. This I do fault Bush for, he either didn’t want to see what was happening or really convinced himself or Cheney convinced him it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
Still, it’s not as bad as some anti-war groups say, or as good as the Pentagon says. There have been 3 national elections and 2 national referrendums successfully held in a country with a full blown insurgancy going on and a history devoid of honest elections. In 14 of the 18 provinces most people are going about their lives freely, and in the other 4 there are good things happening. Once again, Americans have to realize that war and it’s aftermath don’t have instant results, this isn’t a half hour television show where all problems are solved by the last commercial.
As to the other things you cited as bad Bush policy. Well, immigration has been a thorn in our sides for 20 years, at least Bush has made proposals, more than the last 2 Presidents can say. Social Security reform, thanks to the Democrats fear mongering that was dead on arrival. To bad, I would like to have some kind of retirement net to look foreward to. The Dubai ports deal the media played that to death, no person in congress that isn’t running for President dared speak up and point out that these people run ports all over the world without any problems and that they wouldn’t have been responsible for security at our ports, because we already have a law that forbids non-american owned companies from providing security. The security problems aren’t at our ports, they are at the foriegn ports, where point of origin security is almost non-existant. So to satisfy a few very loud people who didn’t bother to tell what was really going on we have probably made investment in this country by non-Americans a not so hot deal. And the best is that there are only 2 american owned and operated companies that run ports and they admit they can’t do what the non-american company’s can do.
Polarization happens when there is parity, to get the attention of voters both parties play hardball publically. Somewhere politicians lost the idea that they are there to run a country(even in the bad old days there was party warfare, but they united on war and danger to the republic) and that they only answer to their party and not the voter.
Joshua
You made some very eloquent points. Although I don’t disagree with you whole heartedly, I will only comment on one point. Planning.
Yes, very few plans work 100%. That, however, is what divides the successes from the failures. Anyone intelligent enough will see that they are straying from the course and compensate for it. There are several business models for this, but I will just give you one. Goal; Plan; Implement; Evaluate; Correct; then repeat.
First you set your goal. This is the ultimate that you want to accomplish. It could be selling a new car, getting to Aunt Tilly’s house, or regime change in Iraq.
Then you make your plan. You design the car, source the components, test, and prepare for production, etc. You decide which route to take, which car to drive, will you need gas etc. You pick one method of changing the regime, estimate what materials will be needed, determine where the materials will come from, how will everything be transported, etc.
You then implement your plan. You build the car. You get in your car and drive. You invade Iraq.
Next is to evaluate (measure) your progress. Is what was laid out in your goal and plan being implemented or has something unseen occurred? Is a characteristic of the new car a safety problem? Will you be delayed because the traffic is heavier then predicted? Did someone forget to bring the bullets?
Last is correction. In order to stay with the goal and plan, you must be prepared to correct the unforeseen problems. Maybe you need to change the design or suppliers. An alternate route around an accident might speed things up. Borrowing some bullets from the Navy or Israel will help.
You then look at your goal and re-evaluate where do you go from there.
What makes the Bush administration stupid in my opinion, and I hate using that word, is they didn’t do this. They had their goal, threw a plan together and just went ahead and did it. Most of Bush’s goals have been not been thought through or planned past the “just get ‘er done” stage. This is not a healthy sign and is an indicator of Bush’s stupidity as he is responsible for the team around him.
With Dubai Ports, it was his own party in Congress that sunk him. Bush absolutely refused to compromise with Congress, threatened a veto, ignored the facts that port security in the US is non-existent, and didn’t even follow the law on disclosure and comment. In the end, he let a deal that wasn’t a problem become a problem and made himself look bad and upset an ally. That was just plain stupid.
The president’s team isn’t on Ambien, they are just stupid, like Dubya himself. This level of incompetence cannot be achiveved with drugs alone. It takes the appointment of many cronies into sensitive positions, ignoring facts that you don’t like and dismissing science that makes you look bad. The president and his team have worked very hard to get us in such dire straits. Don’t dismiss their efforts by blaming a drug. They deserve all the credit for being this stupid and incompetent.
Joshua,
Is there a blunder or mistake by this administration that you won’t rationalize, dismiss, excuse away or blame on someone else? How badly do they have to screw up before you finally admit they are completely incompetent?
Mr. Fusion…..actually, looking at it from that point of view, I may have to agree……he may not be stupid, but he sure let himself look that way. And thats something a good leader can’t let happen.
Alex…..I voted in my first election of any kind in 2000. I had just turned 18 that August. I admit that I voted for Bush, because I have never cared for Al Gore. I don’t care for radical politicians of any party….left or right. Bush seemed more moderate. But even today, if they replayed the 2000 election, I would still vote for Bush over Gore.
I try to not make excuses for what he has done or not done. I simply try to point out that not everything is as the New York Times or the L.A. Times says it is.
I always think that there’s 2 sides to every issue and sometimes people only see or hear one side. Both the right and the left do their best to drown out the other guys views or to only present their side of any issue. Believe it or not Alex……there usually is more than one reason a program, or a policy in or from goverment dosen’t work or never see’s the light of day. I look for all sides of those things, and while I might not think the other sides are all that great, I still acknowledge that they exist.
I don’t want to become what I see so many others who follow politics become…..locked into only having one point of view. Hard to make informed opinions that way.