The Public Interest

I named this post from A.C. Kleinheider at the Nashville Post as last week’s “blog post of the week,” and I hope he doesn’t mind if I reprint it in full:

“From the Associated Press:

The president said he believes people “saw my election as proof, as testimony, that although we are imperfect, our society has continued to improve.”

His election proved nothing of the sort. The election of Obama proved only how badly a man can screw up a presidency. It proved how quickly a party can squander a historic opportunity.

The election of 2008, despite what he and his supporters might wish to believe, was not about Obama. It was about George W. Bush.

His catastrophic failure made a President Obama possible. He capitalized on the opportunity, sure. He walked through that open door but without the Bush, there would be no Obama.

It may not be inspirational or high minded, but that’s the truth. “

Exactly right.

I normally dislike Washington Post curmudgeon columnist Richard Cohen, but he hits on this same theme in his column today:

“Bush’s tenure was truly remarkable. He left office with the lowest presidential poll ratings in 60 years, two wars begun and not ended, and the deepest recession since the Great Depression. If it’s true that we learn from our mistakes, Bush’s eight years represent a bonanza of lessons.

What commends the Bush presidency to further study was its sheer managerial ineptitude. This is irony aplenty for a man not known for irony. Bush’s one area of expertise, after all, supposedly was in management. Not only had he been a businessman, but he had graduated from Harvard Business School. Bush was the Decider. He was a delegator. He was precise and punctual — early to the office, early out of the office and a clean desk at all times. Wow!”

This is why last week’s ‘tea parties‘ fell flat for me. I would have taken those protesters far more seriously if they had raised the issues they seem to care about back when their own party leader was leading the conservative movement off a cliff.

If you are Republican or conservative, there are many reasons for you to oppose Barack Obama. But it will be hard to make an effective argument against him unless and until you figure out what President Bush did to bring you to your current state.

And I’m not talking about anything having to do with Bush’s stances on various issues. It has far more to do with execution.  Even though I disagreed with most of his platform, my main gripe against him was that he did not manage the office of the presidency well. He and his followers clung to ideology and largely supported him regardless of whether what he was doing was furthering the conservative cause or not.

Republicans and conservatives need to work on excising a tendency towards blind loyalty, and grow your tolerance for intra-party debate.

You will only emerge stronger if you do so.

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