Posted on 01/15/2009 8:03:01 AM PST by CedarDave
There's actually a lot that President-elect Barack Obama can learn from the troubled presidency of George W. Bush. Over the past eight years, I have interviewed President Bush for nearly 11 hours, spent hundreds of hours with his administration's key players and reviewed thousands of pages of documents and notes.
That produced four books, totaling 1,727 pages, that amount to a very long case study in presidential decision-making, and there are plenty of morals to the story. Presidents live in the unfinished business of their predecessors, and Bush casts a giant shadow on the Obama presidency: two incomplete wars and a monumental financial and economic crisis. Here are 10 lessons that Obama and his team should take away from the Bush experience.
1. Presidents set the tone. Don't be passive or tolerate virulent divisions.
2. The president must insist that everyone speak out loud in front of the others, even -- or especially -- when there are vehement disagreements.
3. A president must do the homework to master the fundamental ideas and concepts behind his policies.
4. Presidents need to draw people out and make sure bad news makes it to the Oval Office.
5. Presidents need to foster a culture of skepticism and doubt.
6. Presidents get contradictory data, and they need a rigorous way to sort it out.
7. Presidents must tell the hard truth to the public, even if that means delivering very bad news.
8. Righteous motives are not enough for effective policy.
9. Presidents must insist on strategic thinking.
10. The president should embrace transparency. Some version of the behind-the-scenes story of what happened in his White House will always make it out to the public -- and everyone will be better off if that version is as accurate as possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Woodwards list is idiocy.
Here are some real lessons:
1. Realize that if you are a Republican, the press will try to destroy you.
2. Have an ideology and stick to it. Know what you believe and why.
3. Listen to conservative talk radio. They dismantle liberal lies and talking points every day. You should be able to do the same.
4. Do not get on the defensive, attack your enemy, keep him off balance. When he is defending he is not attacking.
5. Do NOT accept blame for things when you are not responsible. Katrina is a good example. Rather than taking the heat off, it validates their hatred and they will use it as a weapon. It also cuts the knees out from your supporters.
6. Realize that everything the media says is a lie. Point it out at every opportunity. Destroy their credibility. Show your contempt for them.
7. Being nice to your opponents is a waste of time. Leftists respond to sticks, not carrots.
8. Do not depend on anyone else to deliver your message, blanket the airwaves with announcements and proposals. Go directly to the people. Stay visible and in touch.
9. Do not assume that even obvious things are obvious. Explain the reason for everything being done. Push your proposals with reason. Use clearly worded statements to fight your opponents proposals.
10. Reward your supporters by pushing their agenda. Get things done that are important to them. Reverse the wrongheaded and destructive policies of RAT presidents. Do not merely hold back the tide of liberalism, reverse it.
Excellent advice. Bookmarking. Suggest you include these on your home page (which is excellent, by the way).
Good list.
To expand a bit on your #4:
As conservatives we need to take out the foundational constructs liberals are routinely allowed to erect. That is, attack the very premise on which they base their arguments, because therein is where the whole rotten Leftist perspective goes off the tracks.
Too often we are on the defensive, because we allow the Left to frame the argument, set the ground rules and establish the premise.
He doesn't need to. He's already written his Obama book. Just needs to wait 4 years to publish and fill in a few blanks from current events to make it look credible.
Funny how none of these matter if the media is for you. You could put “unless the media is in your favor” for every one and it would nullify the point.
The real lesson is that a powerful, organized, mainstream media can and will destroy anyone unless they fight back hard. And apparently George W. Bush had no stomach for fighting the media.
Good list.
Really, it could be boiled down to being a real conservative and having the balls to take on “respected” media figures.
If Bush was a QB on the GOP football team and his tenure was a game the rats would had ten takeaways. 5 interceptions and 5 sacks with forced fumbles.
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