Bipolar Disorder
Jun. 30th, 2005 07:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafoc
I don't think Dubya's biggest problem is that he's an idiot (although he certainly is). Rather, I think it's that he's so impossibly pigheaded.
It's obvious, to me anyway, that it doesn't matter how well a policy adheres to your principles if it just plain DOES NOT WORK. Yet Dubya is the kind of guy who would run head-first into a brick wall twenty times, dust himself off, blame the failure of his wall-butting policy on Democratic obstructionism, and then start over. He is Sticking to his Principles, you see, and his inability to learn from his mistakes is evidence (in his eyes anyway) of his high moral standards.
They say that any nation gets the government it deserves. What we did to deserve Dubya is obvious. When we Red Staters (or vice-versi) spend all our so-called political discourse wondering how the Blue Staters (or vice-versi) can be so deliberately, calculatingly evil as to dare to actually DISAGREE with our high holy opinion on some damn thing or other (instead of, heaven forbid, actually listening to the other guy, treating him with some modicum of respect, listening to his opinion, and understanding his point of view) then, whichever side you're on, compromise becomes making deals with the devil. And when even considering any compromise Violates Your Principles, some pathologically inflexible dolt like Dubya becomes the perfect candidate.
Enjoy him. You've earned him.
It's obvious, to me anyway, that it doesn't matter how well a policy adheres to your principles if it just plain DOES NOT WORK. Yet Dubya is the kind of guy who would run head-first into a brick wall twenty times, dust himself off, blame the failure of his wall-butting policy on Democratic obstructionism, and then start over. He is Sticking to his Principles, you see, and his inability to learn from his mistakes is evidence (in his eyes anyway) of his high moral standards.
They say that any nation gets the government it deserves. What we did to deserve Dubya is obvious. When we Red Staters (or vice-versi) spend all our so-called political discourse wondering how the Blue Staters (or vice-versi) can be so deliberately, calculatingly evil as to dare to actually DISAGREE with our high holy opinion on some damn thing or other (instead of, heaven forbid, actually listening to the other guy, treating him with some modicum of respect, listening to his opinion, and understanding his point of view) then, whichever side you're on, compromise becomes making deals with the devil. And when even considering any compromise Violates Your Principles, some pathologically inflexible dolt like Dubya becomes the perfect candidate.
Enjoy him. You've earned him.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-01 01:40 am (UTC)You've just said that Our Leader can't do this. Like a nonsentient machine, he will continue to repeat the same actions over and over despite their evident lack of effectiveness.
What you've said boils down to "Dubya's not an idiot; he's just stupid."
no subject
Date: 2005-07-01 01:52 am (UTC)However, I've known some stupid people who could take good advice. I've known some brilliant people who couldn't.
I think Dubya is stupid-- I said as much in the first line of my dumb little screed. He won't change his behavior because of his experience-- by your definition that's still stupidity. But he also won't change his behavior by listening to advice or divergent opinions. Which might be stupid too, but I'd put it more in the realm of arrogance.
Or the belief that he is God's Chosen Servant. Which I guess is arrogance too.
Um... I guess my take on it is that he WON'T change. I think he could, if he chose to. He just chooses not to, thinking this is virtue. Whether that's arrogance or stupidity...?
Granted, of course, that when the results are so disastrous it's hard to tell the difference between arrogance and stupidity. Nor does it matter to the dead.