Square Blocks in Round Holes:State of the Union Address, 2007
Square Blocks in Round Holes:
State of the Union Address, 2007
A few hours after listening to President Bush's "State of the Union" speech, an odd juxtaposition of thoughts occurred to me.
On September 11, 2001, the threat of international terrorism came home to us in tragic fashion. With impressive resolve, George W. Bush gathered the strands of fear, and promised the American people he would solve the problem with aggressive action. He sent our military into a "war on terror," to defeat the enemy the way Americans know how--but without success so far.
As I was trying to get to sleep after listening to the President‘s message, the image of my 13 month old grandson came to mind. Wyatt had been given a "learning" toy for Christmas--a plastic tray with different shaped holes cut in it. The challenge was to take similarly shaped inserts and push them through the matching holes. My walking-but-not-yet-talking grandson showed a determination and focus for the task that equals his President's. Wyatt choose a round hole to work on, picked up a square shape and proceeded to try to force the square block through the circle.
The difference between him and the President is that when the one-year-old's solution did not work, he quickly threw that shape aside and tried another one. Wyatt is no dummy. He has only had a few days to explore his options since his initial failure, but I expect he will master the problem within a week or two. George Bush was given his problem over five years ago and is still trying to push his square shape through a round hole. He announced on Tuesday that resolve will bring victory, and asked for additional months of more pushing.
I woke Wednesday morning anxious to see if our "other" leaders will come forward to help the President improve his learning curve. Wyatt, himself, may run for President one day. He already is a step-up on George W. Bush.
State of the Union Address, 2007
A few hours after listening to President Bush's "State of the Union" speech, an odd juxtaposition of thoughts occurred to me.
On September 11, 2001, the threat of international terrorism came home to us in tragic fashion. With impressive resolve, George W. Bush gathered the strands of fear, and promised the American people he would solve the problem with aggressive action. He sent our military into a "war on terror," to defeat the enemy the way Americans know how--but without success so far.
As I was trying to get to sleep after listening to the President‘s message, the image of my 13 month old grandson came to mind. Wyatt had been given a "learning" toy for Christmas--a plastic tray with different shaped holes cut in it. The challenge was to take similarly shaped inserts and push them through the matching holes. My walking-but-not-yet-talking grandson showed a determination and focus for the task that equals his President's. Wyatt choose a round hole to work on, picked up a square shape and proceeded to try to force the square block through the circle.
The difference between him and the President is that when the one-year-old's solution did not work, he quickly threw that shape aside and tried another one. Wyatt is no dummy. He has only had a few days to explore his options since his initial failure, but I expect he will master the problem within a week or two. George Bush was given his problem over five years ago and is still trying to push his square shape through a round hole. He announced on Tuesday that resolve will bring victory, and asked for additional months of more pushing.
I woke Wednesday morning anxious to see if our "other" leaders will come forward to help the President improve his learning curve. Wyatt, himself, may run for President one day. He already is a step-up on George W. Bush.
Labels: George W. Bush, State of the Union 2007
posted by Doug at
12:47 PM
2 Comments:
"With impressive resolve" Bush did take charge.
I remember feeling good about him then.
It was a fleeting sensation.
By
Travis, At
February 4, 2007 at 6:32 AM
I think President Bush could learn a valuable lesson from Wyatt. We know that Wyatt can't yet talk so we don't expect communication via words. And Wyatt doesn't expect words to tell us what he is thinking. He has other methods of communication but we won't go into those right now. President Bush seems to get in trouble when he starts talking. Maybe he should stop talking and spend more time trying to fit the correct shapes into the correct holes.
Cliff
By
cliff, At
February 5, 2007 at 9:58 PM
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