Seen it before
If you haven't already, add cultural ignorance to the profoundly long list of Bush Incompetency Incarnate Indicators. Maybe you've sub-filed it under tactlessness.
There's been a flurry of recent examples, which isn't surprising: he's overseas, of course. Yesterday, he got testy with the South Korean President. A day earlier, he let on that he thought the Chinese leader is "... an easy man to talk to. "I'm very comfortable in my discussions with President Hu." Shades of his self-congratulatory and woefully naive ability to 'look into Putin's soul.'
And his verbal gaffes just keep coming too.
I can't find a link right now, but Joe Biden once talked about attending a requested briefing for Bush prior to his first European visit. This was not Bush's first visit as President...this was his first visit, ever. The brief happened not long after the administration had refused to sign the Kyoto agreement. Bush asked Biden why then German Chancellor Schröder had a problem with him?
You'd think that at least his political mind would have somehow known Schröder led the SPD/Green coalition.
When I was in international sales, I dreaded bringing certain folks along with me for overseas negotiations. They inevitably suffered from a chronic inability to follow the business mantric equivalent of our childhood lesson in street-crossing (you remember, stop-look-listen). That being: listen-think-talk. It's obvious, no? But I've seen my share of self-professed business ninjas, with their over-inflated egos, impatiently skipping over step one & heatedly rushing through step two to get to the important part, where they open their mouths and favor the rest of us with their remarkable acumen.
You have a clue you have a Biz Ninja on your hands when they insist on coming along while stating they 'know how to handle those...[insert nationality here].'
Classic tyro-tude, flavored with huge dollops of provincialism. It's a recipe for stupid - and unsuccessful - salesmanship. But it's seriously dangerous when mixed up with global politics.
Bush is all Biz Ninja. His 'success' in the business world should have been a clue: I mean, aren't all Republican voters reallyreallysuccessful business tycoons? Maybe Bush's presidential 'legacy' will insure we don't elect another moron anytime soon.
Oh, hi Fred, Rudy, Mitt; you've had your passports re-validated and you've got some killer power points? Um, grrrreat...our flight leaves SFO at 10.
If you haven't already, add cultural ignorance to the profoundly long list of Bush Incompetency Incarnate Indicators. Maybe you've sub-filed it under tactlessness.
There's been a flurry of recent examples, which isn't surprising: he's overseas, of course. Yesterday, he got testy with the South Korean President. A day earlier, he let on that he thought the Chinese leader is "... an easy man to talk to. "I'm very comfortable in my discussions with President Hu." Shades of his self-congratulatory and woefully naive ability to 'look into Putin's soul.'
And his verbal gaffes just keep coming too.
I can't find a link right now, but Joe Biden once talked about attending a requested briefing for Bush prior to his first European visit. This was not Bush's first visit as President...this was his first visit, ever. The brief happened not long after the administration had refused to sign the Kyoto agreement. Bush asked Biden why then German Chancellor Schröder had a problem with him?
You'd think that at least his political mind would have somehow known Schröder led the SPD/Green coalition.
When I was in international sales, I dreaded bringing certain folks along with me for overseas negotiations. They inevitably suffered from a chronic inability to follow the business mantric equivalent of our childhood lesson in street-crossing (you remember, stop-look-listen). That being: listen-think-talk. It's obvious, no? But I've seen my share of self-professed business ninjas, with their over-inflated egos, impatiently skipping over step one & heatedly rushing through step two to get to the important part, where they open their mouths and favor the rest of us with their remarkable acumen.
You have a clue you have a Biz Ninja on your hands when they insist on coming along while stating they 'know how to handle those...[insert nationality here].'
Classic tyro-tude, flavored with huge dollops of provincialism. It's a recipe for stupid - and unsuccessful - salesmanship. But it's seriously dangerous when mixed up with global politics.
Bush is all Biz Ninja. His 'success' in the business world should have been a clue: I mean, aren't all Republican voters reallyreallysuccessful business tycoons? Maybe Bush's presidential 'legacy' will insure we don't elect another moron anytime soon.
Oh, hi Fred, Rudy, Mitt; you've had your passports re-validated and you've got some killer power points? Um, grrrreat...our flight leaves SFO at 10.
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