Compensating

Ever the perceptive one, DL sent me a note concurring with my observation about the irony of DefSec Rumsfeld sticking around for W, The Sequel: Back to the Bush. In part, quoth she:

I think #43 refuses to back down and ax Rumsfeld because it appear to the public that he made a mistake in taking us into Iraq. You and I both know now that going in there was wrong...we questioned attacking Iraq from the get-go. But based on what we the public knew, we had to believe our President and his cabinet knew what the hell they were doing. I think a man ought to be big enough to admit when he's made a mistake, no matter what it costs him. But, as you and I know, ol' George ain't gonna 'fess up. Geez Louise, it's like Bill Clinton stating publicly that he and "that woman" didn't have sexual relations. We knew the pants weren't always zipped!

Here's my thought about the Bush/Rumsfeld deal. I've written previously that I don't believe the President is a very intelligent man. But I think he's just smart enough to know that other people view him as being less sharp than a Miracle Blade. As a result, he steers away from actions that he perceives will give his critics license to say, "See? Told you he was stupid." Actions, for example, such as admitting he made an error and moving to correct it. Better to be decisive and be thought a fool, than be indecisive and remove all doubt, to paraphrase Twain.

It's a common human phenomenon, among males of the species especially. Small men try to make themselves look bigger than they are. Meek men attempt to seem macho. Insecure men resort to bullying, domestic violence, or virulent racism — among other negative behaviors — to craft the illusion of supreme self-confidence.

Similarly, dull-witted men will go to extreme lengths to convince others that they really are brilliant. In this, George the Second reminds me of the Pakleds, the dim-bulb alien race in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Samaritan Snare." The Pakleds would try any tactic to mask their mental deficiencies and have the rest of the galaxy think them intelligent. Like a Presidential Pakled, Bush 43 sits in the Oval Office, pounds on the desktop, and murmurs to Rumsfeld, "I need things to make me go."

Unfortunately, as an anthropologist once observed, though a civilized man may portray a barbarian effectively for a time, a barbarian cannot long pretend to be a civilized man. A genius can play the fool, but the fool can't play the genius. Woe to the world when that fool wields power.