V. Seventh: Faith. Son Bush’s faith not only gives him great comfort, his belief in a divine destiny allows him to take great risks, and to some extent shapes and simplifies his view of the world as divided into right and wrong, good and evil. “There are no shades of grey in this fight for civilization.... Either you’re with the United States or you’re against the United States of America” “I could not be governor if I did not believe in a divine plan that supersedes all human plans.” GW in A Charge to Keep “There is only one reason that I am in the oval office and not in a bar. I found faith. I found God. I am here because of the power of prayer.” Son Bush learned that an airliner flying from National Airport could be steered off course and be into the White House in 40 seconds. “I’m in the Lord’s hands.” Son Bush opens every cabinet meeting with a prayer and a reading from My Utmost for His Highest.
“Although it did not draw much comment at the time, Bush’s spirituality was perhaps crucial to his ability to handle himself so well in public – and by all accounts, in private – after the attacks.... It was an explanation for his ability during grueling passages, like the period of his campaign when Gore seemed to be pulling ahead, to surrender emotionally and mentally to fate, which he believed was governed by a wise and benevolent hand. I didn’t understand that clearly before September 11th. I did after September 11th. Although many of the people close to him disagreed with the following assessment, a few said that Bush believed that the mission he was confronting must be God’s intention for him, a kind of reason for being, and they said that this conviction steadied him. I think in his frame, this is what God has asked him to do. It offers him enormous clarity.” D. Wead
Theologians note that Son Bush has not only been "talking about God more, he is talking about Him differently.” And in the March 14, 2003 edition of the United Methodist Review, under a headline “President’s ‘God-talk’ Disturbs Some Believers” columnist Deborah Caldwell notes:
“Most know that the president had a religious conversion at age 39 when he ‘came to the Lord’ after a weekend of talks with Rev. Billy Graham. In the beginning he downplayed his religious convictions saying he wanted to be judged by his deeds and ‘not how I try to define myself as a religious person of words.’ We are witnessing a shift in Mr. Bush’s theology -- from talking mostly about a Wesleyan theology of ‘personal transformation’ to describing a Calvinist ‘divine plan’ laid out by a sovereign God for the country and himself. This shift has the potential to affect Mr. Bush’s approach on terrorism, Iraq and his presidency.”
Both his Methodist church denomination and the Pope condemned his war against Iraq.
VI. Eighth: Unwillingness to Review Past Decisions, Accept Criticism, or Admit Error.
One night when Son Bush was running for Governor as he turned into their driveway he asked Laura what she thought of his speech. When she said “it wasn’t one of your best” he turned toward her and drove the car into the back of the garage. She hasn’t criticized any speeches since -- and if his wife can’t who can? [By many accounts Laura continues to offer criticisms at least in some areas.]
When asked by Dianne Sawyer whether it was right to say Saddam had weapons of mass destruction rather than say he might get them in the future, GW responded: “So what’s the difference?”
When asked on the Jay Leno show if he had ever done anything he was ashamed about, he said he didn’t.
“I hope I don’t want to sound like I’ve made no mistakes. I’m confident that I have. I just haven’t – you put me under the spot here and maybe I’m not quick – quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.” April 2004 news conference
“How can someone learn from mistakes if they don’t think they’ve made any? The individual who attributes his faults and missteps to others deprives himself of the opportunity to grow, to add to his arsenal of thinking skills.” J. Frank
VII. Ninth: Risk Taking. Finally, what characterizes Son Bush’s decision making process from all other presidents, and indeed from almost all other politicians, is the high degree of risk he is willing to take. This can be both a virtue and an enormous danger. Son Bush has repeatedly made enormous gambles, for example after officially winning by 573 voted in Florida and a 5-4 decision by the US Supreme Court, he nevertheless said he was going to “seize the moment” and immediately started governing as if he had won a landslide mandate.“After JF Kennedy won the presidency by the smallest popular vote margin in history, he recognized that he did not have a mandate from the American people and thus was careful about the issues he decided to fight for... Even after Bill Clinton won popular vote, tried to find overreaching principles in common with the Republicans and Perot voters... On the other hand, after Bush won the presidency after losing the popular vote by the largest margin in history (539,947 votes)... and officially won Florida by only 573 votes, and then only via a very controversial decision by a divided Supreme Court that some of the justices appear to regret..... but when asked if he thought he had a mandate, he replied “I do,” and indeed he pursued an expansive agenda of domestic and foreign initiatives as if he had a mandate “in landslide fashion.” And while most focused on how he had again outperformed low expectations, this not only demonstrated that he was very comfortable in “going against what is expected of him or what others think he should and ought to do,” but also that he was willing to take risks other presidents and presidential candidates would not consider, but do so based less on facts than ideology, and based not on trying to build a coalition or ‘split the difference’ as much as transforming both the Republican party and the United States domestic and international agendas.” Stanley Renshon, In His Father’s Shadow
And Son Bush has been amazingly successful in getting his agenda passed, from the largest tax cuts in history, to significant education reform, to substantial roll-backs in environmental restrictions, to funding “faith based” agencies, to rolling back gun controls, to taking a radically different foreign policy even before 9-11... and to his enormous gamble in invading Iraq. Indeed it could well be argued that he is the most adroit politician, and has had been the most successful in getting his way, since LBJ... Part of the reason for his success of course is because the Republicans not only control the presidency, but also control of both the House and Senate; part is Karl Rove’s political skills and Bush’s willingness to play hardball on every issue and every vote; and part is the strategy of focusing on one issue at a time, and the ten key tactics summarized by Charles Jones that includes controlling the agenda, don’t negotiate with yourself, press your advantages to the maximum, compromise when you must, and there is only one commander in chief....
But much of his success is because, unlike most politicians, he didn't spend decades in the political bubble which teaches more what can't be done than what can, and thus he has often been willing to put his agenda on the line and risk not only defeat of the proposal, but also his re-election. In the very risk adverse Washington DC environment that focuses above all on re-election, this has not only appealed to many in and out of government, but also has shown what is possible for a president who is willing to risk all.
And Son Bush is willing to undertake this incredible risk taking in part because, unlike his father and mother who loved living and entertaining in the White House, Son Bush didn’t really want to be in Washington anyway and would far prefer to be in Austin or at his ranch; he and Laura take no social pleasure in being president; he has had only 4 state dinners (his father had 29); he has “no patience with Washington dinners and parties, and is as isolated from the official social life of the capital as was another teetotaler, Jimmy Carter;” he makes the minimum number of appearances necessary (at the Alfalfa and Gridiron dinners); nor do Son Bush and Laura entertain much at the White House with friends. Of course this is not surprising for a reformed drinker who goes to bed at 9:30. Son Bush is also indifferent to many other trappings of the presidency. For example he banned the Marine Band from playing Hail to the Chief when he appears in public – although that also might be part of his life-long strategy to minimize expectations.
And indeed it appears he was reluctant to run for president in the first place, e.g.: He told an audience in Iowa that he not only hadn’t wanted to be president when he was growing up, he didn’t want to be president “until recently;” Laura had “profound reservations” about him running for president and his daughters were decidedly against it; Son Bush seemed to be hesitant about the challenge of the presidency, and spent a good deal of the time before the Supreme Court’s decision at his ranch, while his father wasn’t hesitant and beamed with delight and satisfaction; his cousin Elsie said Son Bush would have been happy to stay governor of Texas, maybe happier; he told a group of Methodist ministers that he hadn’t wanted to run for president but that his family and friends forced him to do so; after his re-election as Governor of Texas his mother called him the “Chosen One” and said she’d “kill him if he didn’t run.” And so he did, not only to "best" his father and beat his “favored” brother Jeb, but also to avenge his family’s honor by getting rid of Saddam Hussein.
But the bottom line is big risk hold big dangers as well as big benefits... and going after Saddam Hussein rather than Osama bin Laden now looks like one big risk gone terribly wrong. “Watching the Iraq story unfold, all I can say is this: If this were not about my own country, my own kids, and my own planet, I’d pop some popcorn, pull up a chair and pay good money just to see how this drama unfolds. Because what you are about to see is the greatest shake of the dice that any president has voluntarily engaged in since President Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.” Thomas Friedman 3/4/03And the real question was not if getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a "good thing" but rather if it was the best use of our limited resources... and surely the $100's of millions if not eventually trillions of dollars spent on the war on Iraq would have had far greater benefits to our economy, security, and moral authority if spent in other ways.
On to More
Evidence of Bush's Flawed Decision Making Process