It takes more than decisiveness

Mark A. R. Kleiman says:

But some of us dislike George W. Bush largely because he has proven to be such an inept war President.

I wouldn't say that I dislike George Bush -- in fact as I have said several times on this blog, I think I would genuinely like GW as a companion on the golf course or a raftng trip -- but I do agree that he is not a war president in whom I feel confidence. And we are at war.

While I admire GW's quality of decisiveness, I also value wisdom and, following Odysseus, craft. One has to be decisive but it is more effective if astute in one's decisions.

Comments

[TM Lutas]

Hmm. Whatever makes you think that George W Bush is not crafty? I also happen to think he's wise on the big picture but craftiness in a politician who has made his entire career out of getting people to underestimate him and lose, lose, lose is much easier to prove.

When somebody suckers people with decades more political experience on the national and international scene and they do it time after time, I don't care what it looks like, that's guile and craft at work.

How else do you explain such an unlikely set of facts? He's taken some of the thinnest Congressional margins around and largely gotten his program into law, much more than previous modern US presidents with better positions. He got a war handed to him, he shifted from a conventional cold warrior perspective to the most innovative foreign policy revolution since the Thirty Year's War and got the UK to sign on, the PRC to stay out, and Russia and France to blather in ineffectiveness.

He flat out says things as policy in simple declarative sentences, nobody takes it seriously, and then they wake up and find its reality. What the heck do you call that?

[David Sucher]

Then I guess you'll vote for him. :)

I don't think a crafty president squanders opportunities and friends.

A crafty President (like Bush 41) would send envoys at the highest level (e.g. Sec of State etc) to a friendly nation (e.g. Turkey) from which we seek a favor (e.g. troops across their border.) It is my understanding that we did not do so -- neither Powell nor Rumsfeld etc ever went to Turkey to cajole them, taking for granted that the Turks would obey. That is not state-craft.

[Haystack]

I agree with the above comment. I also think that a wise and "state-crafty" President would talk to the public more, be more candid, and more eager to discuss how the administration is meeting its goals, and why these goals are worthwhile. He'd attempt to persuade and win over the public more than Bush is doing right now.

I'm not quite sure why Bush isn't doing this. I think the problem is that he's been distracted from state-craft, and more focused on poll-craft — Rove-craft if you will. So Bush is being crafty, in a sense, but in totally the wrong way.

In general, since about mid-2002, Bush has been frustratingly sloppy. It's weird: he had all kinds of bipartisan and international support, and it seems to have evaporated. And it's not enough to just blame the liberal media, because the Administration just hasn't managed to get their message out there. I really don't see how he can run and win on his foreign policy alone, because he hasn't done enough to sell it to the public and win them over.