Newsweek: Un-Explainer in Chief

[napi21]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11623419/site/newsweek/

Well, I saw Clinton at another governors association meeting the other day, and I had to agree when a Democrat whispered to me, "You know, if the Constitution allowed it, that guy could get elected again."

(snip)
Clinton's performance reminded me of the leadership strengths—and weaknesses—of his baby-boomer successor. George W. Bush is in choppy water over the Dubai ports issue. And he is so, in large part, because, unlike Clinton, he is a man of bullet points, not explanations; of slogans, not systems; of certitude, not complexity.

(snip)
I've known Bush for a long time and I know that he distrusts talk, at least public talk. He'd rather make a decision—give an order—and then go out and attack a felled tree with a chain saw. He is confident to the point of arrogance when he makes a "tough call." But he objects by nature to the demand that he explain his reasoning or the process behind it.

(snip)
Another reason is his father's political saga. Junior hated watching his dad's painfully compulsive need to explain himself in public and vowed: not me. Then there's West Texas, where Bush learned his social Tough Guy ways on the playgrounds of Sam Houston Elementary and San Jacinton Junior High, and then later at the Midland Petroleum Club. The ethic out there is to distrust talkers. You shake hands.
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Another decent article by Howard Fineman.

[ktowntennesseedem]

1. My favorite line...

"It's as if Microsoft had George W. Bush in mind when they developed Powerpoint."

[acmejack]

3. They had * in mind when they developed the BSOD

It is perfectly in keeping with the entire (mis)administration!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. This administration has performed an illegal operation...

...and will be shut down.


:)

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. I makes me sad to see Clinton now

because he always reminds of how much we had and how much we've lost.

[napi21]

6. Clinton's SOU speeches were the only ones I actually paid

attention to. Even though they were usually too long, when he spoke, what he said made sense!

I can't listen to Shrub anymore, even though I know I should. We all should know what the idiot in chief is up to, but he's said so many really dumb things, fractured the language so badly, and just his voice affects me worse than fingernails on a chalck board!

I know when I see the occasional Clinton speech on TV now, I nearly cry. There is SUCH a difference between an intelligent person speaking, and a disconnected arrogant, human screeching out a few words!

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Clinton came to my town and spoke

a couple of years ago.

The place was packed and they had to turn people away. He spoke for almost 2 hours and he was incredible. He just makes so much sense and he can discuss almost any topic. Whoever is the next DEM president needs to make Clinton, Secretary of State.

[Obamanaut]

9. Do you remember when Clinton/Gore accepted the

nomination way back when? I recall thinking how presidential they looked as they stood on the stage. Ahh, memories.

[0007]

5. We're so screwed!

So after years of saying how fundamentally simple and stark things were—Good Guys and Bad Guys, Good and Evil, freedom and slavery, light and darkness—the president has suddenly had to concede, or propose, that the Dubai port deal is all about the complexities of the real world, of globalized commerce, of leases and not ownership, of friendly Middle Easterners versus enemy Middle Easterners, of friends who recognize Israel, and friends who don't—and won't, perhaps ever.

The administration will take 45 days to try to describe why the Dubai deal is a good thing for the country. But it'll take an army of explainers to do the trick—and you won't hear the president do it in a prime-time speech.

America is now struck with the Dubai deal. What was all this talk about junior vetoing the bill, if the deal was already prearranged? We've been had again!

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. What is the difference between the UAE and Iran

in regards to Israel? I don't understand the double standard.

[0007]

10. I don't understand the double standard either....What are we missing?

:shrug: