Bush's Leadership Style: Decisive or Simplistic?

[papau]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45277-2004Aug29.html

washingtonpost.com
Bush's Leadership Style: Decisive or Simplistic?

By Mike Allen and David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 30, 2004; Page A01

<snip>Republicans draw a sharp contrast between what they portray as Bush's directness and what they call rival John F. Kerry's tendency to worry issues to death. White House aides describe a president who gathers a small circle of trusted advisers, listens to brief debates and then offers swift, gut-based solutions to problems.

But a close examination of Bush's operating style, based on interviews with former administration officials, Bush friends and outside experts, offers a more nuanced picture. In some cases, as in the decision to go to war with Iraq or to seek large tax cuts, Bush has indeed moved quickly to set his course and stick to it. In others, such as North Korea policy, he has let things languish and pushed problems to the future. He has also not hesitated to switch positions when necessary, such as when he first opposed, then backed, the creation of a Homeland Security Department.

Many of Bush's admirers describe him as a leader who asks tough, probing questions of advisers but also say he is a person who, once he picks a goal, never looks back. Even strong supporters sometimes worry that his curiosity and patience seem limited, while detractors see him as intellectually lazy and dependent on ideology and sloganeering instead of realism and clear thinking. Because he has a relatively small set of advisers, dissenting voices are effectively muffled.<snip>

Fred I. Greenstein, a Princeton University political scientist and authority on presidential leadership styles, said Bush's clarity of purpose reduces the tendency in government to let matters drift, but too often "results in a vision that may be simplistic or insufficiently examined or something that undermines itself."

Admirers and critics differ on the consequences of Bush's leadership. Supporters see strengths that have served the nation well in times of international conflict and domestic challenge -- notably after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when Bush did not hesitate to put the country on a war footing and begin to move against al Qaeda's sanctuary in Afghanistan. Opponents say Bush's way has led to a bloody stalemate in Iraq and a weak economic performance at home.<snip>

[realFedUp]

1. I don't think this is news...

lol.
His decision making is like a childs...
without much reasoning, with much insistence
that he's right.

[whistle]

2. I'm not sure which, but I do know this about Bush's leadership style....

...it is very costly to most Americans while the top priviledged 20% make out alright under Bush's leadership. So if the other 80% of the voters would just go to the polls and vote their conscience and even their self-interest, Kerry and many democrats would win by a landslide and sanity and security would return.

[wurzel]

3. Like Pinocchio, Bush leads with his nose.

[mr_hat]

4. And.

[The empressof all]

5. Neither- It's idiotic.. (eom)