jeudi, février 10, 2005

Worst. President. Ever.

A strong leader is one who does the right things; a strong manager is one who does things the right way.

Some Miscellaneous Book of Business Wisdom


Your President is neither.

The Staff at ILIM


North Korea announced that they have nuclear weapons. I think we should bomb Iran.

A light bulb moment for me happened at some point fairly early on during our war against Iraq. An Iraqi mall or a school or a pharmacy was bombed, and an American General, standing in front of a stage built by a Hollywood set designer (no kidding), said that it was likely an Iraqi missile.

Did you catch that?

Iraq, at that moment, went from a credible and imminent threat to the United States, to an organization with weaponry that is so inadequate and inaccurate and insufficient that if they tried to hit us, they’d just end up punching themselves.

If you are going to lie to us, please honor us with good lies.

I’ve been saying for a long time that we were fiddling while Rome burned, and now we know it for a fact. A mad man has nukes. Say, didn’t we have cameras on North Korean nuclear facilities at one point? Didn’t he make a big show of turning the cameras off? Didn’t he make a big show of turning them off right after we called them evil?

What was our response to them turning off the cameras? I don’t remember.

I think we were busy in Iraq (and to a lesser extent) in Afghanistan.

Poor management and poor leadership.

Yesterday I called George Bush a liar.

Today I am calling him monomaniacal – so focused on one thing that he’s put the entire world in jeopardy.

Now, North Korea is saying they won’t join talks around nuclear disarmament, and in spite of needing to call backyard bunker contractors, I have to pause for a moment to say this is exactly what we deserve.

When we went to war against Iraq, we effectively told the world that rules don’t matter. The whole Bush Presidency has, in effect, been about telling the world it doesn’t matter. The U.N., the Geneva Convention, the Kyoto protocols, for that matter history – they have all been brushed aside by our arrogant and ignorant “leadership.”

Now, we’re in a position to ask others to play by the rules, and we have no moral authority to compel them to do it. Secretary of State Rice sounds like a character from Oliver – asking for more oatmeal or whatever – please come to the negotiating table, North Korea, please.