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A recipe for leadership disaster:

Bush said he insulates himself from the “opinions” that seep into news coverage by getting his news from his own aides. He said he scans headlines, but rarely reads news stories.

“I appreciate people’s opinions, but I’m more interested in news,” the president said. “And the best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.”

Mr. Bush, the people on your staff are likely to be the least objective sources you have. Many have a vested interest in telling you exactly what you want to hear. Or, perhaps more to the point, in telling you exactly what they want you to think, since they know you don’t do any cross-checking against other sources.

I have long maintained that anyone with a decent computer and a fast Internet connection (and maybe an ability to read quickly) can be better informed about world events — and the reasons and motivations behind them — than the president of the United States is.

As extremely unlikely as this sounds — and it sounded impossible to many of my conservative friends whose early-on argument(s) for war rested on the belief that “the president knows things we don’t know, so we just have to trust him” — empirical evidence supports my hypothesis: The words and actions from Mr. Bush and his administration again and again reveal a startling lack of awareness of world facts/figures/feelings, an awareness that’s attainable for anyone who reads far and wide.

Here, I am left to infer, is one child who was left behind.

[via Daily Kos]

2003-09-24 update: No sooner than I imagined Mr. Bush as a grown-up child who’s been left behind, I’m referred to this astonishing psychological assessment that compares George to Tom Hanks’ character in the movie Big. Fascinating reading.

Later … OTOH, after just watching the long-since TiVo’d closing episodes of last season’s The West Wing, I’m reminded I’m not willing to take on a presidential level of responsibility (assuming there’s any significant correlation between drama and reality on that score). So now my hardwired INFP empathy’s kicking in and I’m willing to cut the White House folks some slack.

I’ll still be proceeding full tilt toward getting Dr. Dean elected next year, though.

Still later … OTTH, given the extent of these White House occupants’ lies and malfeasance, I should probably take the more forcible stance of James Carville who said, “When your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil.”

There are enough tough guys and gals around to hurl anvils at deserving SOBs that maybe I can weave into empathetic mode from time to time and still succeed at pushing the fight forward. :-)