SAN DIEGO -- Before
the State of Union address, I heard a commentator say that what
President Bush needed to do was remind Americans why they voted
for him.
I don't need reminding.
I remember what I liked about Bush. My first impression was that
he was honest and straightforward, trustworthy and plain-spoken.
Now -- with phantom
WMDs and phony promises about how the federal government would
rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina -- those qualities
seem to be in short supply.
The one thing Bush
always had going for him -- and it served him well in two elections
-- was that he came across as someone who said what he meant and
meant what he said.
These days, if you
don't like what he says, you can stay tuned and, in a few days,
he might say something totally different.
For instance,
the administration claims it doesn't need congressional permission
or new legislation to engage in domestic spying. But according
to The Washington Post, Justice Department lawyers drafted
legislation in 2003 that -- along with strengthening the USA Patriot
Act -- would have provided a legal justification for the administration's
eavesdropping program.
During his first
presidential campaign, Bush projected the image of someone who'd
be just as happy if he lost the race and had to go back to the
ranch in Crawford. Now, with the domestic spying fiasco, he's
projecting a different image -- of someone who is not only hungry
for the power of the executive branch, but nibbling on the legislative
and judicial.
Bush gives a speech
talking about how Border Patrol agents should lay off hardworking
immigrants trying to support their families and instead focus
on smugglers and other hardened criminals. Then he stands before
an assembly of Border Patrol agents insisting that we're a nation
of laws and anyone who wants to immigrate here must do so legally.
All this has me scratching
my head and wondering: ``Dude, where's my president?'' Can't the
guy make up his mind as to what he really believes, instead of
trying to please everyone?
It's no wonder that,
according to several recent polls, the number of Americans who
still consider Bush honest and trustworthy has fallen to below
40 percent.
What many
Americans do consider Bush to be is stubborn. In fact, an AP/Ipsos
poll conducted in November found that 82 percent of respondents
used that word to describe him.
I like my presidents
to be steadfast. I'm no fan of flip-flopping, which is why Al
Gore and John Kerry gave me the creeps.
But I also want people
who know when a product isn't selling -- like the Harriet Miers
nomination or Bush's plan to offer at least a temporary amnesty
to illegal immigrants -- and then are willing to go in another
direction.
During his speech,
Bush showed again why that's so hard for him to do. After promising
that he would seek Congress' advice, he was careful to draw a
distinction between ``responsible criticism'' and ``defeatism.''
``Hindsight alone
is not wisdom,'' he said. ``And second-guessing is not a strategy.''
Maybe not. But a
leader who learns from his mistakes is so much more appealing
than one who has difficulty choking out an acknowledgment that
he ever erred.
Maybe Bush needs
a personal trainer to show him how to digest crow. If so, I have
the perfect candidate.
Last month, California
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered his State of the State address.
Having taken a beating in November's special election in which
four Arnold-backed initiatives were defeated, the big guy put
it out there:
``I've thought a
lot about the last year,'' Schwarzenegger said, ``and the mistakes
I made and the lessons I've learned.''
He said he had ``absorbed
my defeat'' and that the people ``sent a clear message -- cut
the warfare, cool the rhetoric, find common ground and fix the
problems together.'' Then he said to the people of California:
``Message received.''
Saying California
must keep pace with its population growth, Schwarzenegger then
unveiled something that he would never have suggested in his first
days in office: a $222-billion, 10-year plan to rebuild the state's
infrastructure.
Republicans were
furious. Democrats were stunned. And, I have to believe that a
lot of Californians were flat-out impressed.
Imagine a politician
admitting he was wrong and then trying to make it right. Americans
don't see that very often, and, lately, they haven't seen much
of it from President Bush.
©
2006, The San Diego Union-Tribune
