[lbo-talk] (no subject)

[Jon Johanning]

On Nov 17, 2004, at 9:44 AM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:

> With that in mind, Bush strategy of surrounding himself with mediocre
> sycophants is a mirror image of corporate behavior and makes a lot of 
> sense.
> The chances that mediocrity derails the system are rather low, but the
> chances that sycophantic lieutenants will help to solidify the power 
> of the
> top bosses are quite high.  What is more, the chances that top 
> performers
> turn to obedient sycophants are not that great either.  It thus is only
> logical that surrounding oneself with sycophantic mediocrities gives 
> the
> best chance of success, at least for the bosses.
>
> In sum, expect more mediocrity and do not hold your breath waiting for 
> the
> system to grind to a screeching halt.   I am not saying that the 
> grinding
> will not eventually happen, but there is a lot of inertia in the 
> system that
> will propel it for a while.  I would love to see the US system 
> unraveling
> during my life time, but I would not bet on it.

I don't expect the system to unravel soon either, but by speaking of 
truth biting Bush on the tush I didn't mean anything that drastic. I 
meant something more like what Vietnam did to Johnson, and then to 
Nixon (indirectly, by prompting his various neuroses into setting off 
the whole Watergate affair). Fairly soon now (certainly within our 
lifetimes, assuming they are of average length), the Iraq adventure 
will turn to dust in his hands as the Vietnam campaign did in Johnson's 
and Nixon's, since Bush is obviously impervious to the truth. How much 
this will damage Bush's standing among Americans remains to be seen.

The other point I would like to suggest is that the current push to 
surround the chief executive with yes-people carries the usual 
organizational practice to an extreme that I cannot remember in any 
previous administration. Usually, presidents like to have some folks 
around them who can point out when they are making big mistakes, even 
if they don't really appreciate their services, but ol' George 
obviously thinks he knows everything and is intending to issue orders 
to his underlings, not receive ideas from them. If (as those of us on 
this list believe) most of those orders are going to be disastrous, and 
if we also take into account the usual woes of a lame-duck president, 
Georgie is going to have hell to pay eventually.


Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
__________________________
Rob the average man of his life-illusion and you rob him of his 
happiness at one stroke. (Henrik Ibsen, "The Wild Duck")