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The trouble with incurious George
St. Petersburg Times ^ | September 28, 2003 | Bill Maxwell

Posted on 09/29/2003 1:40:12 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

With only 13 months to go until the next presidential election, Americans who voted for George W. Bush the first time around need to start facing the cold, hard truth about their man.

And what is that truth? First, the newest poll numbers.

An AOL poll asked: "Who should lead the rebuilding of Iraq, the United States, the United Nations, (or) the Iraqis?" The results should be sobering for the president and his supporters. Of the nearly 2-million respondents, 29 percent said the United States; 37 percent, the U.N.; 33 percent, the Iraqis.

According to a Pew Research Center for the People & and the Press poll, 49 percent of Americans want the president to focus more on the slumping economy and disappearing jobs and less on Iraq. Other polls that asked the same question report similar results.

As to the president's approval rating, Republicans and others who voted for Bush should be worried. Again, half of Americans approve of Bush's performance, the smallest percentage of his tenure, according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll and a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.

On the one hand, Bush's falling star is remarkable given the high numbers the president enjoyed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and during the first weeks following the quick military campaign in Iraq.

On the other hand - which is the main point of this column - no one should be surprised at Bush's eroding standing.

The Man from Texas is not up to the job. I wrote as much before he was "elected," and I reiterate it now. This issue is more important now than ever because the nation faces problems like never before. Spinning the evidence will hurt the nation.

During the first eight months of Bush's first term, handlers struggled to find a way to make the president look presidential and up to the challenge of governing the world's only superpower. The nation saw Bush whiling away the month of August at his Texas ranch, his staff trying to lend significance to the mundane.

Then, the World Trade Center came down and the Pentagon was hit. Bush was suddenly anointed with relevance and meaning. His presidency was transformed by catastrophe and chance.

Going to war against the Taliban was an easy call, as was deposing the Iraqi dictator. Anyone can win with the United States military at his command. Only now is Bush's real leadership ability being tested. The U.S. military per se - no matter who the commander in chief - is very good at destroying other armies. That is its function.

But after the bombs have stopped falling, then what?

Bush is now in the "then what?" stage of his presidency. And, with regard to the war in Iraq, the picture is ugly. How to put Iraq back together? How to govern without bombs? How to communicate with and serve the vanquished?

George W. Bush's biggest problem is that he never knew much about the world around him, and he still does not know much. All of his life, he has been known as a person who does not read, who does not travel unless forced to do so.

Note part of a recent New York Times editorial describing Bush's manner of informing himself:

"As for newspapers, Mr. Bush said, "I glance at the headlines' but "rarely read the stories.' The people who brief him on current events encounter many of the newsmakers personally, he said, and in any case "probably read the news themselves.' . . . During the Iraq invasion, when the rest of the nation was glued to TV, Mr. Bush's spokesman claimed that his boss had barely glanced at the pictures of what was going on . . . it is worrisome when one of the most incurious men ever to occupy the White House takes pains to insist that he gets his information on what the world is saying only in predigested bits from his appointees."

Anyone who listens seriously to the president speak surely has to wonder what on earth is going on. Will he ever utter something close to a spontaneous insight: a piece of wisdom that gives a little order to life, that moves us to see matters in a new way?

Many of us expect and want our president to be smarter than the rest of us. We want a president who reads voraciously, who may write a book without a ghostwriter, who loves to travel, who can synthesize disparate schools of thought and chunks of information to form a sensible view of reality. We have had such presidents, even during my lifetime.

November 2004 is fast approaching, and we need to start taking full measure of the man in the White House. We need to face the cold, hard truth about our president and ask ourselves if he is the man we want to lead the nation for another four years. For now, at least, the poll numbers are trying to tell us something.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: leadership; polls
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The Man from Texas is not up to the job. I wrote as much before he was "elected," and I reiterate it now. This issue is more important now than ever because the nation faces problems like never before. Spinning the evidence will hurt the nation.

Ah, the big lie. Democrats don't give a damn about national security if it stands in the way of party politics and power. Bill Clinton governed the country by polls. George Bush has a different take on leadership. George Bush is focused on national security not on his next election.

1 posted on 09/29/2003 1:40:12 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"During the Iraq invasion, when the rest of the nation was glued to TV, Mr. Bush's spokesman claimed that his boss had barely glanced at the pictures..."

Just what I want, a president who sits on his a$$ watching TV.
We had that with Slick Willie, who was more interested in golf than Bin Laden.
2 posted on 09/29/2003 1:50:58 AM PDT by FormerlyAnotherLurker
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
I'm in argreement with the piece. I have been saying it for four years. When you look in Bush's eyes, nobody's home.
3 posted on 09/29/2003 1:54:35 AM PDT by RLK
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To: FormerlyAnotherLurker; RLK
The Left likes someone who can rattle off facts and figures and leaves governing to the UN's anti-Amercian dictates.

'Apes read Nietzsche Otto, they just don't understand it.' - A Fish Called Wanda

4 posted on 09/29/2003 2:17:26 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
First, the newest poll numbers. An AOL poll asked:...

I stopped taking the author seriously here.

5 posted on 09/29/2003 2:25:21 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Democrats.. Socialists..Commies..Traitors...Who can tell the difference?)
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To: All

Bill Maxwell
Bill Maxwell Times Op Ed Columnist Appears Wednesdays on the Times Op Ed page
and Sundays in Perspective. ... 15: What had changed was Bill Maxwell Dec. ...
www.sptimes.com/columns/maxwell.shtml - 101k - Sep 27, 2003 - Cached - Similar pages

Columns: What had changed was Bill Maxwell
printer version. What had changed was Bill Maxwell. maxwell MAXWELL E-mail:
Click here Archive. By BILL MAXWELL, Times Columnist © St. ...
www.sptimes.com/2003/01/15/Columns/ What_had_changed_was_.shtml - 42k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.sptimes.com ]


6 posted on 09/29/2003 2:26:31 AM PDT by backhoe (The 1990's will be forever known as "the Decade of Frauds" [ Clintons, dot-bombs, Oslo Accords...])
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
In my opinion, Bush is a leader with vision and is an excellent manager. Guys like him don't ask questions about what was already done. He's thinking about tomorrow and not yesterday where this mope of a writer is residing. For what it was worth, Clinton and Carter were probably smarter men but were paralyzed by indecisiveness and blurred loyalties. Neither Carter or Clinton accomplished anything meaningful for the good of the country and they really were acting on the agendas of others outside our borders.

The partisan political aspect of the article is blindingly apparent but it did get me started this morning.

7 posted on 09/29/2003 2:47:12 AM PDT by Thebaddog (Fetch this!)
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To: backhoe
Maxwell has the LIBERAL agenda writing his opinion pieces.
8 posted on 09/29/2003 2:50:44 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Thebaddog
Bump!
9 posted on 09/29/2003 2:51:22 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Maxwell has the LIBERAL agenda writing his opinion pieces.

Heck, I thought I must have been reading Ted Rall. Call this Maxwell character 'Ted Rall light' I guess, but still veering decidedly toward the tinfoil hat lefties. Question I'm asking is, how can a guy be as dumb as Bush supposedy is, yet still be at the center of a vast political conspiracy?

10 posted on 09/29/2003 3:09:59 AM PDT by ARepublicanForAllReasons
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Whoever he is, Bill Maxwell is a Paul Begala wannabe. A congenital Bush-hating twit.
11 posted on 09/29/2003 3:10:28 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; RLK; Thebaddog
I'm in argreement with the piece. I have been saying it for four years. When you look in Bush's eyes, nobody's home.

How pithy...so I decided to check out some of the esteemed Mr. RLK's handiwork, and I came across this gem:

George Bush is the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century. Neither Bush nor Chamberlain recognize(d) hard tough reality. Both live(d) in denial motivated by various etiologies. Bush makes a show of finishing the vendetta against Saddam Hussein, in which there is absence of broader context in his actions, but in other things he's in a mode of subjecting or sacrificing America to some kind of Jesus freak suicidal self-sacrificing world love-in.

Some analysis, eh? Given the choice of trying to wage a debate or paying my bills, I've decided to spend my time on the endeavor that will actually help my family and me: paying my bills.

I do think Robert takes real umbrage that such a powerful man as Pres. Bush would say publically that he prays "a lot".

12 posted on 09/29/2003 3:16:04 AM PDT by Night Hides Not
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To: Night Hides Not; RLK
RLK is so much smarter than President Bush, I am amazed that no one has contacted him for advice on governmental reorganization, foreign policy, or military strategy. He wouldn't be bothered by wasting that time on silly stuff like prayer. No-siree!

He would definitely be in his office watching TV. We could depend on him to at least do THAT!

13 posted on 09/29/2003 3:22:58 AM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: RLK
I'm in argreement with the piece. I have been saying it for four years. When you look in Bush's eyes, nobody's home.

My far-left Democratic relatives are in total agreement too.

For four years, I've been saying that it's real scary when the far right and the far left are in such total agreement.

14 posted on 09/29/2003 3:45:32 AM PDT by Amelia
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To: RLK
I'm in argreement with the piece. I have been saying it for four years. When you look in Bush's eyes, nobody's home.

My far-left Democratic relatives are in total agreement too.

For four years, I've been saying that it's real scary when the far right and the far left are in such total agreement.

15 posted on 09/29/2003 3:48:34 AM PDT by Amelia
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To: ARepublicanForAllReasons; All
This attitude comes from people who believe America deserved 9-ll and the death and destrucion it brought and continues to bring.
16 posted on 09/29/2003 3:53:46 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Caipirabob
Actually, I discounted the piece as soon as I saw that it was in the St. Petersburg Times. The Times is a Palm Beach Post wannbe, but isn't tilted quite as far to the left as the Post.

But, they have their audience of kool-aid drinkers who buy into this load of crap. Even though Bush's poll numbers have slipped, he is still well ahead of the highest poll numbers the Billary ever got.
17 posted on 09/29/2003 4:02:26 AM PDT by DustyMoment
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
That Maxwell is a liberal is an understatement. He writes for one of the most liberal papers in the country, the St. Petersburg Pravda (Times).
18 posted on 09/29/2003 4:18:28 AM PDT by dawn53
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To: leadpenny; Miss Marple
Bill Maxwell is a very inferior writer who used to be published only in the very local press. But because he is extremely liberal (on the verge of paranoid liberal, as you can readily see) and black, his stuff is now getting unwarranted distribution here in the South through Knight Ridder.
19 posted on 09/29/2003 4:20:49 AM PDT by livius
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To: livius
. . .and black . .

I retract my Begala comment. He is a Donna Brazile wannabe. He is still a twit, however

20 posted on 09/29/2003 4:25:13 AM PDT by leadpenny
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