One problem with Bush is that he’s neither analytical, consistent,curious, nor is he particularly experienced in life to know what he’s doing. So a series of abstractions and sycophants compete for his attention. Worst of all, when all else fails, he resorts to decisionmaking by instinct, instincts honed through a singularly undemanding life prior to assuming the role of the presidency:
They said Mr. Bush — an ardent believer in personal diplomacy, who once remarked that he had looked into the eyes of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and had gotten “a sense of his soul” — was taken in by the general, with his fluent English and his promises to hold elections and relinquish military power. They said Mr. Bush looked at General Musharraf and saw a democratic reformer when he should have seen a dictator instead.
Nothing wrong with dictators, sometimes they’re our only friends in certain parts of the world, but you shouldn’t let the Burberry suits and Cambridge educations fool you, whether you’re talking about King Abdullah or Putin or the Chinese or Musharaff. Incidentally, I believe the latter is someone we can do business with, and the current tensions reflect parochial battles between ethnic groups and power brokers, but his power also is a delicate matter, and we needn’t demand elections when he’s hanging by a thread.
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