January 14, 2008

Shorter Bush

I am the decider, and will decide which facts are relevant. Even if those facts are just in my head.
Talking Points Memo | Bush Disowns Iran NIE: "But in private conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, the president all but disowned the document, said a senior administration official who accompanied Bush on his six-nation trip to the Mideast. 'He told the Israelis that he can't control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE's] conclusions don't reflect his own views' about Iran's nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity."

3 comments:

leighton said...

I'm sure someone sufficiently imaginative could come up with a charitable interpretation of Bush's comments, but even charity has to acknowledge that someone so desperately inept at communicating shouldn't be in any position of leadership.

Streak said...

It is amazing. I have heard so many people make excuses for him--"he just doesn't speak well, but he is smart." That may be true, but isn't a requirement of the job an ability to communicate? Something beyond "they hate us for our freedom?"

leighton said...

No kidding. I recently heard a good analogy for different communication styles at a linguistics blog I read. Different styles of speaking are like fashions: more or less formal, more or less complicated, tailored as appropriate to the occasion at hand.

People who speak like Bush does aren't stupid--or at least no more stupid than the rest of us. But that he doesn't think it's important to adopt, periodically, a style of speech that's more formal and appropriate to his office says a lot about how seriously takes his responsibilities. It's like walking into a funeral shirtless and wearing flip-flops. When he tries to be eloquent but not hard enough to succeed, it's like wearing an unironed tux and not checking to make sure his undershirt isn't caught in his fly. Both situations are just disgraceful.