How to fail at reassurance

Recently in a FOX News interview, Mr Bush attempted to quell rumors that he has been seeking his father’s advice increasingly as his tenure wanes. According to the BBC, “The relationship between the two men has been the subject of some speculation since the younger Bush began recruiting members of his father’s administration, amid escalating violence in Iraq.” The BBC describes the interview further: “But, he was at pains to stress, he was not constantly on the phone to his father, who was president from 1989 to 1993.”

 

Personally, I don’t care much about this. Creating a rumor-mill regarding an individual’s decision to seek advice is downright pathetic. Furthermore, considering the incredibly sensitive and unique nature of the type of information available to and decisions required of the president, there are very few people on the planet to whom Mr Bush could turn for advice. This is the reason that former intelligence agents move into neighborhoods populated largely by other former spooks. Who the hell else can you talk to about the last 40 years of your career over the grill while drinking a beer?

 

What creeps me out is a quote from the interview: "I love my dad. But he understands what I know; that the level of information I have relative to the level of information most other people have, including himself, is significant and that he trusts me to make decisions," he said. "I am the commander-in-chief."

 

Don’t ask me why. Maybe I’m an elitist. Maybe I want my president to be more erudite, more thoughtful, more eloquent. Nothing he said here is particularly disturbing or erroneous. The problem is that it could have been said by a 15 year old. I’m not looking for Shakespeare, but being plain-spoken does not necessitate sounding defensive, weak, simple, and in need of self-assurance. To hear such quotes from the most powerful human being in the world--well, if he was trying to reassure people that he has things under control, his grasp of basic human psychology is near bereft. In my opinion, he has achieved the opposite.

 

-W.