Rick Horowitz' column, published in the Star Tribune on Monday, said it as eloquently as can be said:
"Hindsight alone is not wisdom," the president declared. "And
second-guessing is not a strategy."Well.
First of all, it's not second-guessing -- it's certainly not
hindsight -- if you said it before it happened. It's prediction. It's warning.
And there were all sorts of people sounding warnings long before Bush sent our
soldiers into Iraq. People who did war, or reconstruction, or counter-insurgency
for a living. Who knew that they were talking about and were ready to share
their experience, and their concerns.
The president and his people
weren't much interested in hearing them. Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld knew what
they knew, and they knew better than anyone else. So we went into Iraq without
enough troops to get the job done. Without enough armor to protect those troops.
Without a coherent plan for the days and months after the statue came down.
The president and his people knew better.
They were wrong. Of
course they want to change the subject!
And it's hardly second-guessing --
or hindsight -- to use the past to help pick your way through the future. Or
would you prefer that every impression be a first impression?"
Exactly. The President is basically saying, "Whether or not we blew it before, we're here now so you have to follow us." The problem is that normally when you screw up, you're forced to admit it. You're chastised for it. You're forced to endure a great deal of oversight to ensure you don't screw up again. Our President, on the other hand, feels uncomfortable with the prospect of people reminding him how he screwed up. Uncomfortable that, perhaps, others may feel it useful to keep a closer eye on him, given past performance.
As we say in our office, we ought to put Mr. Bush on a "performance plan," one where we set specific improvement objectives and keep a close eye on him to see how its going. No more illegal behavior. No more pronouncments that fly in the face of reality. No more ignoring contradictory voices.
Or you'll have to talk to...Human Resources.
(DUM DUM DUUUUUMMM!)
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