… from President Bush, commenting on conservative animosity toward presumptive Republican nominee John McCain:
“There’s probably some personal animosity toward me. You can’t please all the people all the time…” Bush said.
in a statement found in today’s LA Times online.
In the rest of the article, President Bush pledged to assist Sen. McCain’s campaign, should he get the nomination. President Bush also noted that McCain has some “work to do” to convince conservative Republicans to get behind him.
Indeed, “Dubya” is a true master of understatement.
Nothing escapes him, does it? My complaints with this buffoon started when he interpreted Olasky’s concept of Compassionate Conservatism as a mandate for government activism for people who are “hurting”.
He never understood what Olasky meant, or doesn’t care, because the result of Bush’s compassion has always been to be generous with things he doesn’t own…like national identity and national assets.
I have no complaint with Bush’s big heart, but government is not about metaphysics. Bush doesn’t become a better or more Godly man by deciding which population to save from tyranny, which population to reward with immigration flexibility, which age group to provision at the expense of the young, or which ill-considered debt should be underwritten by the FHA. I could go on. Bush’s virtue seems to be entirely an expression of institutional charity.
He’s convinced me that the secular man/woman is more reliable in public office than the overtly religious. Lots of things are different now.
Comment by Rhod — 11 February 2008 @ 11:41 pm
I dunno if I have the most correct understanding of Olasky either, Rhod - but I’ve understood the gist of his work to be more about reducing the burden of government on individuals (particularly those who are in more of a position to be compassionate to the unfortunate).
And the extension of that in the sense of faith-based initiatives belongs exactly with the churches and synagogues and civic organizations that unlike the government - and in particular, the socialist leaning politicians who make a career out government - these organizations have finite resources which if they wish to stay solvent, will means test those who wish to use their services, and seek to help them get to a point where they can be prosper … hopefully to the point of being able to return the favour to someone else in the future.
In other words, compassion being leveraged with accountability.
Comment by seekeronos — 13 February 2008 @ 12:05 am
That’s the way I understood Olasky, Seek.
His studies revealed that private charitable organizations had greater statistical success in their work than did government equivalents. It departed from doctrinaire conservatism - which was (incorrectly) viewed as indifferent to these matters, and liberalism, which expanded the influence of government in the same matters. Yes, the effort was to reduce government involvement and encourage private involvement.
When Bush described himself as a CC, he might have had a vague idea (as he does with most things) of what Olasky meant in his work…Olasky worked for Bush Sr and Dubya, I think, as an advisor….and made a desultory effort with faith-based initiatives.
It ended there.
Comment by Rhod — 13 February 2008 @ 1:31 am