Life's Persistent Questions

Mistake-free

By now, the view of our President on mistakes during his first term, expressed in last week's interview with the Washington Post, has been finally clarified--there is none. Why? Because 51% of us didn't care during the last election. So Dr. Rice was merely keeping up with the status quo. Many people have jumped on Bush for believing as the President, he only has one accountability moment every four years, and a single decision by people, who had to weigh a multitude of issues and non-issues, can be used to wipe the entire slate clean. Maybe that's why he won the election last year. In a sense, Bush, the Evangelical Christian, had an edge over his opponent Kerry, a Catholic. At least as a Catholic, you have to go to the confessional, state every sin you have committed ("father, I have sinned. I shot an innocent Viet Cong in the back when he was running away with a ROCKET LAUNCHER.") then repent. Bush merely proclaims that the LORD is in his heart, and everything can be forgiven.

But is his view that stupid? College students have two or three exams each term per class. Pass them you pass the class. Med students have USMLE step1, 2 and 3, pass them you are a doctor. Whether you studied everyday, or you crammed the night before, your accountability moment is the day of the test. People in the working world have deadlines. Athletes have track meets. Again, you make the deadline or win the medal that day, you are golden. So I can personally see why this result-oriented think could lead Bush to believe that he did his job.

Except an election is not a good measurement of how well he did his job. His 2004 win is like a C student in a class that everybody failed and grades were given on a curve, or an athlete on steroids beat an opponent who got stabbed repeatedly by his zealous fans. Nor is the job of a President to solely, if at all, win elections. In addition, if he thinks 51% win is vindication, what does he think about his sub 50% ratings in recent polls that directly assess the public's view on individual issues? I hope he learned how to round up.

posted by hedgehog @ 12:20 PM