horatio alger turning in his grave

[datasuspect]

Excerpt:

"The downside of this sense that one was self-made, experts said, is that it can lead to being impervious to others' opinions and a disdain for those who haven't figured out how to better their circumstances.

Americans and perhaps humans generally are impressed by up-by-the-bootstraps stories, and Bush is no exception. But he may even be more smitten with such stories than the typical politician.

In Schweizer's conversations with Bush family members, they described Bush as more a student of people than ideas.

"If you look at everything from prep school to college to his early forays into politics, he has always been a student of people, more than interested in abstract ideas or policy questions, and I think that comes through in the kind of Cabinet people he is picking," Schweizer said."

full story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412040202dec04,1,1073786.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Getting good at manipulation and intrigue isn't the same as mastering

"Emotional IQ".

[Demit]

2. oh pul-lease! "his entreprenaural background in Midland, Texas"?

Most of what he did "was on his own"? * was bailed out of every business debacle he was involved in, always mysteriously picking up a little more profit each time!

Too many toadies quoted in that article. Here's the real insight:

"Justin Frank, a clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, concurs. Frank also is a psychoanalyst who wrote a book called "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President."


"Until he was 40 he was not self-made at all," Frank said. "He was completely dependent on his parents, on his name ... on his alcohol. When he stopped drinking and found religion he became, in his view, self-made. He essentially admired and idealized this aspect of himself. So, in that sense it's an extremely positive feeling for him," which he recognizes in others."

[datasuspect]

3. i posted it

because i still can't believe how people fawn over this guy (the mainstream press).

pure spin, they're trying to account for his soviet-style of leadership by painting his cabinet selections in this "bootstraps" light.

when the reality is that they will more likely be rubber stamps more than anything else.