It has becone apparent that President Bush is basing his reelection efforts on the character issue. He and his surrogates attack Mr. Kerry's character while promoting Mr. Bush as the candidate with good character. Mr. Kerry is described as a malleable flip-flopper who lies about his life experiences, his record, and his plans. Mr. Bush is described as a direct, bold, and resolute leader.
As my oldest son approaches eleven, it is natural to think about the character issue in terms of the Boy Scout Oath and Motto. The Oath and Motto may be found here.
That site notes that:
The Boy Scouts of America promote character values in their oath, law, motto and slogan... The Boy Scout Oath, Law, Motto and Slogan are excellent character guidelines for any group, organization or individual.
That is not to say that I would wish for a President who always acts like a perfect Boy Scout. Some of the Scout standards are more important than others in choosing a political leader. For instance, it seems more important to have a President who is prepared for unexpected events than one who is always obedient to authority or friendly to those who oppose American interests. I presume that all major candidates for President are clean in the sense of personal hygiene. Nonetheless, the some of the qualities we expect from Boy Scouts may shed some light on the choice of political leaders.
The Boy Scout Motto is "Be Prepared." A political leader has to be able to anticipate events abd to react quickly to those events. Mr. Bush has failed on that score. He vacationed while Al Qaeda prepared to attack New York and Washington. He then continued to listen to My Pet Goat after being told that America was under attack.
He has admitted to miscalculating the extent and nature of the resistence in Iraq. That failure has reulted in the loss of both blood and treasure. As a result of that failure to be prepared, things in Iraq are bad by almost any measure (pdf) and seem to be better worse, not better.
What exactly was Mr. Bush's plan for dealing with North Korea in the event it decided to create weapons grade plutonium? If Iran decides to become a nuclear power, how does Mr. Bush plan to respond? If a hot spot should erupt in Korea, or in Taiwan, or along the India-Pakistan border while our army is bogged down in Iraq, what are Mr. Bush's plans for projecting American military power?
A second aspect of being prepared is to have contingency plans if things do not work out as you hoped. Mr. Bush had no plan to pacify and secure Iraq when we were not greeted as liberators. He had no plan to capture bin Laden when the Afghans to whom he outsourced the job failed to deliver. When Mr. Bush's tax cuts failed to result in robust economic growth, even decent job growth, or a balanced budget, what was plan B? Mr. Bush made stem cell policy on the presumption that the there were sufficient existing lines of sufficient quality to permit important research to go forward. What was his back up plan for that research in the event that he was wrong?
In order to be able to implement contingency plans to correct policy gone askew, one must first acknowledge that the policy has, in fact, gone askew. Mr. Bush's self proclaimed resolve seems to prevent him from facing facts. If that is correct, then the character trait Mr. Bush promotes, resolve, is actually a detriment to a character trait prized in Boy Scouts and Presidents, namely preparation.
Mr. Bush fails to live up to the Boy Scout motto. What about the Boy Scout Oath? Among other things, Boy Scouts take an oath or make a promise to obey the Boy Scout law. The Scout law is a series of 12 character issues that Scouts pledge to follow. How has the administration done on those issues?
First, a Scout pledges to be trustworthy:
A Scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct. People can depend on him.
Matthew Yglesias recently wrote the following:
The fact that George W. Bush lies constantly about everything he does is very relevant to discussing his performance as commander-in-chief. If I had my druthers this issue would be talked about by noting that he lies about Iraq ("my choice was to trust the word of a madman"), about Libya (where the deal had nothing to do with Iraq), about North Korea (where the US, and not the DPRK, was cheating on the agreed framework), about tax policy (among other things, said his plan cut taxes for everyone when it didn't), about health care policy (left $50 billion or so off the pricetag for his Medicare bill), and about education policy (keeps saying people either "oppose" or want to "water down" NCLB when they actually want to increase federal spending aimed at NCLB implementation).
Was the administration loyal to Larry Lindsey who was fired in part for telling the truth about the cost of the Iraq war? The Washington Post reported that:
The sources said Bush decided to get rid of Lindsey after the economist told The Wall Street Journal in mid-September that a war with Iraq could cost up to $200 billion, at a time when Bush was not confirming he planned any such attack."That made it clear Larry just didn't get it," one official said.
A Boy Scout also pledges to be Friendly, Courteous and Kind. Perhaps someone should tell Dick Cheney that telling a member of the United States Senate to "F*** yourself" on the floor of the Senate is not friendly nor courteous nor kind.
As for Mr. Bush himself, Trish Wilson reports that Mr. Bush has a history of being less than friendly and courteous as well. In 1987, Bush, upset at some things written about his father, approached Al Hunt of the Wall Street Journal in a restaurant and in front of Hunt's wife and four year old daughter said, "You no-good f***ing son of a bitch, I will never f***ing forget what you wrote." That hardly seems kind or friendly and it is certainly not courteous.
A Boy Scout promises to be Thrifty. Mr. Bush inherited a record budget surplus which was projected to remain in surplus indefinately. Under Bush's watch, the surplus has disappeared and the country now faces massive deficits for as far as the eye can see. Spending has sky rocketed under Mr. Bush at the same time he has reduced revenue. That may be a lot of things (stupid, risky, and irrespeonsible for three) but thrifty it is not.
A Scout promises to be Brave. Mr. Bush's efforts to "game the system" to avoid going to Vietnam to fight a war he supported do not demonstrate great personal courage. Neither does his refusal to allow people with whom he disagrees attend his campaign events. Mr. Bush may indeed be personally courageous but I will need to see some evidence of it before being convinced.
This post is getting overlong so in the interest of brevity, I will concede that Mr. Bush is clean (although it seems that he has a dirty mouth), cheerful, obedient, and reverent.
I do not know that it would be good to have a President who always exhibits all of the characteristics of the Boy Scout motto and Scout law. I do know that Mr. Bush has exhibited character traits that are not in keeping with what I hope my older son learns as a Scout.
All this "tongue in cheek" stuff about Dubya just gives a person more ammunition to vote for Kerry.
With a great group effort we can mobilize the vote and sent Dubya packing back to Crawford, TX.