Check out Bob Herbert’s piece in Monday’s New York Times.
Herbert's got it right. Let’s not expect anything new from the GOP convention, just like we weren’t surprised by the Democrats a few weeks back.
This is a week-long advertisement for the Grand Ol’ Party: well planned, scripted, and rehearsed. If you don’t have cable, you get three hours of live coverage this week (unless you watch PBS, and here’s hoping you will) that won’t be rehashed by the network news before broadcast. If anyone who watches this convention is at all surprised or even (gasp!) swayed by any of the speeches in the coming week, please let me know.
Also, take a gander at Allen and Broder’s Washington Post (reprinted in today’s Seattle Times) piece on Bush’s leadership style.
Some words used by sources for the article to describe the president’s leadership/decision making : “workmanlike” “no curiosity, no policy fire” “intellectually lazy” “not very analytical.”
Three things that I took away from this: that the President’s decisions tend to be made with a very small, controlled, group of advisors (what is described in the article as a “closed loop”); that once the president picks a basic course, he will be resolute in sticking to it; and that the president makes quick “gut” decisions after hearing a minimum of information on the subject.
When I read this, I asked myself: How would I react to a boss with this leadership style? I would find it exceedingly frustrating. If you were not part of the inner circle that Allen and Broder describe, your knowledge and opinions might not matter. If you were in the inner circle and had access to the president, you would end up not only filtering the important information that your boss would need to see, but doing the analytical work that your boss won’t do for himself.
Finally, the fact that the president left no question as to the influence of conservative Christianity in his decision-making process, as well as the fact that many of his decisions are made from the “gut,” leads me to see presidential decisions coming not from a well thought-out plan of action, with many sides and viewpoints assessed and included, but from a very personal, individual belief system deeply informed by personal faith. It’s a little too unsettling.
Best line from last night’s Daily Show: “To call this convention manipulative is to call Marcel Marceau a little quiet.”
Respond
Back to top