Wednesday, February 01, 2006

The President as Quaterback

The two positions I am comparing have a lot in common. The president of the United States is easily the post celebrated post on the planet. And the Quaterback the most celebrated position in sports(Hey! the Superbowl is called the world championship like it or not).
Both positions require deft handling of resources, a fine understanding of strategy and courage under pressure. Ultimately there are many reasons to fail or succeed but the buck stops at your door.
With these things in mind lets examine George Bush's Quaterback rating.
Here are various talking points that the Bush Presidency has harped on.
George Bush is not a Washington insider and will the Job done. Which by the Conservative constituency, means reducing the size of Government. The size of government has actually gone up.
George Bush has made America safer. How is that If may query. Burying parts of the 9/11 commision report that pointed out the lapses that lead upto 9/11? By Invading Iraq and turning a large and oil rich nation into a haven and breeding ground for terrorists.
George Bush's tax cuts boosted the economy. This one I can't biff. But its sustainable economic growth that would be appreciated. The reasl estate and home sale biz that has been a major reason for growth is slowing on account of increasing rates. So whats the next boom area?
George Bush wants to usher in an era of Freedom and Democracry in the rest of the world. By selectively siding with dictators like Musharaff? The only good dictators are the one who listen to the United States.
I don't know enough to biff the "No child left behind" either. But echoing the views of others , this legislation has imposed stringent testing on schools, without necessarilly providing schools with the resources to deal with them.
Now that these talking points have been rubbished, The Bush team has fantastically turned to new ones. "We will reduce our dependance on foriegn Oil". Hmm. sounds curious coming from a Texan oilman who believes "Someday the synthetic oil generated from soya will be used to power drills in Alaska". Sorry I did'nt catch that. Did u say power or lubricate. George , are u really trying to prepae the grounds for the invasion of Iran and $100 oil ?
Oh yeah and one final talking point , Bush will bring a new era of accountability in public life. Wait a minute did'nt we just have l'affaire
Jack Abrahmoff and Tom Delay , Scooter Libby and Carl Rove, Katrina and Michael Brown, and the ongoing Iraq saga. Is it just me or is there a serious lack of accountability for George Bush's inner circle?
So lets add that performance up. Quite a few passes intercepted, a few sacks, no real yardage, preety much no touch-downs and u have a preety lousy passer rating. The funny thing is America does'nt need fancy Quaterbacking, just somebody who is competent and manage the game. Well the Presidency and Quaterbacking are preety similar after all, only the Quaterback can actually lose his job.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

very interesting comparisons.