I just read a post on Mark Cuban’s blog, Blog Maverick, in which he explains why he had to let go one of his best players (Michael Finley). For non-sports fans Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks an NBA franchise.
In his post Cuban does something that you don’t see much in this day and age; he says "I was wrong." He takes full responsibility for creating a situation that caused him to let go someone he considers a friend and someone he considered one of his best employees. That kind of honesty takes guts and not a little bit of self awareness. It also shows leadership.
My issue with President Bush has been his absolute inability to say, "I was wrong." Remember last year’s campaign? He was asked point blank if he thought he’d made any mistakes and he couldn’t bring himself to say, "Yes." Personally I think he feared that any admission of error would lead people to believe that he had lost the courage of his convictions.
The President’s supporters often cite his courage of convictions as one of his great qualities. I think this is a reaction to President Clinton’s perceived waffling, and was one of the characteristics that got Bush elected in the first place. But there comes a point where sticking to your convictions in the face of growing evidence that your convictions are wrong can actually have the effect of making you seem stupid, if not a conceited coward.
We’re all human, including the President. As humans we make mistakes and one of our greatest strengths is that we can learn from them. By not admitting that he makes mistakes the President seems to be telling the American people that he is better than us. That’s not good because Americans like their leaders to be forceful, decisive and yet humble.
As I said President Bush could learn from Mark Cuban’s example, but since President Bush doesn’t seem to have Cuban’s self awareness I doubt he will have the ability to learn this lesson. And for that reason I think he’s lost his ability to lead, which should make the next three years quite ugly.
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Befuddled 
Laura Bush undoubtedly renders the President wrong frequently, as does any effective wife.
Clinton’s waffling was among the least of the reasons Bush was elected.
Bush’s humanity or lack thereof is not the determinant of the administration’s conduct. The military has been given a job and hopefully the support to get it done, your feelings notwithstanding.
Fecund Stench,
I agree re. the First Lady (I’m married too).
As for the President’s “humanity or lack thereof” not being a determinant of the administration’s conduct my reply is that his “leadership or lack thereof” is certainly a determinant of the administration’s conduct, and I don’t think he’s leading well. And yes that’s my opinion.
As for the implication that I may not support the troops I’ll have you know that I have a brother in Iraq, and I most definitely support him and the rest of the troops. Not saying supportive things of the President is not the equivalent of not supporting the troops, and I’m getting tired of people making that equation.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion and I hope your brother comes home safe and soon.
I think we should agree to disagree. We might also agree that your post was more emotionally than logically driven, just as is your comment. That’s Ok, I do the same thing sometimes.
Fecund Stench,
Absolutely we can agree to disagree, and upon thinking about it I think you’re probably right that the post and comment were driven more by emotion than logic.
Interesting to me is that when he was first elected I was working in a very liberal publishing company in DC (about three blocks from the White House). When they ragged on the President I would say, over and over, that there are different kinds of intelligence and skill and that although Clinton was obviously a very intellectual man, he was a horrible manager and not a terribly effective leader. On the other hand Bush has never been thought of as intellectual, but he quickly made it clear he runs a tight ship.
I also thought the President was perfect during 9/11. My issues with the President really began with the lead up to the war and I became more and more disillusioned with him as the war wore on and the pre-war intelligence became public. I honestly feel he made a strategic error in going to war in Iraq. (I have no problems with Afghanistan).
In discussions with friends I often tell them that something about President Bush and the administration gives me the heeby-jeebies. Asked to quantify it I really have a hard time with it since it truly is a visceral reaction, but I do think it is based on the collective actions of the man and his people over the last couple of years. What probably started the heeby-jeebies was the campaign last year. As I mentioned in the post it really disturbed me that the man couldn’t bring himself to say “I/We made a mistake.” I’ve never trusted anyone who thought that admitting to a mistake somehow shows weakness, OR if they really believe they’ve never made a mistake then they obviously are delusional.
Also, I don’t think that by saying he made a mistake that it would mean the President had to, or should, move to pull out of Iraq. I personally think we need to stay until at least the minimum of America’s strategic interests are met. To put it in poker terms I think we’re pot-commited. We’ve put this much in already so we need to see it through.
Finally, one reason I think you’re right about my post being more emotional than logical is my thinking that Bush’s leadership will be undermined in the next three years. If you think it through the President doesn’t really need public support since he’s not running for re-election. He literally has three years to get things straightened out, and by all accounts he’s doing fine in terms of his internal support and still has the support of the Pentagon. On that point I think we agree that I wrote emotionally when I said “And for that reason I think he’s lost his ability to lead, which should make the next three years quite ugly.”
Long story short I agree that the post was more emotional than logical. I still think I’m right that the President would be a more effective leader if he took a lesson from Mark Cuban’s example, but I don’t think that his leadership is in any jeopardy with the people that matter.
And it is absolutely okay, in fact it’s great, that we can disagree on this. It’s also very cool that we have this forum to do it in.
Thanks again for the comment.