17 Antipatterns from the Worst Presidency Ever
Posted by Jeff November 10, 2006
So the American people have thrown the bums out. This administration embodies incompetence– what are the lessons to be gleaned from their mistakes?
1. Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true.
2. Credibility, once lost, is not easily restored.
3. There’s a fine line between optimism and deceit.
4. Actions speak louder than words.
5. You can’t say one thing and do another for long. People catch on.
6. Arrogance is tolerable only if you’re competent.
7. People see through word games. And hate you for trying to deceive them. (definition of torture)
8. Listen to your customers, not yesmen.
9. Facts and performance are everything.
10. Getting elected is the easy part. Delivering the big picture is hard.
11. The world is becoming more transparent. Cheating doesn’t work in the long run.
12. People see your true motives.
13. Strategic Thinking- planning and avoiding problems is the hard part. It isn’t as visible.
14. Feed people deception and they will seek truth.
15. You are not as smart as you think. Learn from history and others.
16. Being a nice guy helps. Being competent matters more.
17. Fear is not a sustainable motivation. Hope and vision are.
Perhaps.
Too bad it took the American people six years to figure all this out.
Or we can go to that fateful Supreme Court decision six years ago and blame Justice Rehnquist’s lapse of judgement for having saddled us with an illegitimate president.
Not having been fairly elected but, instead, appointed, made it that much easier for George W. to violate the wishes and best interests of the American people.
We have elected some bad presidents, but they always knew they had to answer to the will of the people. This president on the other hand, obviously felt he could ignore the people’s will — until November 7, 2006. He had different masters to serve.
That is the problem with George W.’s lack of legitimacy. It’s too bad that he is receiving a “thumpin’” only now. Too little, too late.
I really appreciate your post - very hopeful. However, as a typical Yankee progressive, I’ll reserve judgment - I’m concerned that the American swing to the right hasn’t equalized yet, and worse could come. Also, we have a lot of backtracking to do in order to undo some terrible legislation. Finally, convincing the rest of the world that we’re suddenly rational is, well, going to be hard (as it should be).
Thanks again for the great post.
Imnpeach the bastard!!