Gephardt Says Bush "Worries Me": Democrat Critical of President's Foreign Policy Expertise
He's not dumb but he is not informed and he's not experienced and he hasn't surrounded himself with the right people to give him the information and the experience that he doesn't have. And he worries me.
- Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-MO)
There are those that believe that George W. Bush is a refreshing change from the norm- a man who has the courage of his convictions and isn't about to let diplomatic niceties get in his way. The fact that so much of the world disagrees with Bush is held to be a mere inconvenience. We're right, you're wrong, and it's time y'all got over yourselves.
Of course, there also those of us who strongly believe that Bush has neither the intellectual curiosity or the desire to explore differing viewpoints. This should be enough to scare the hell out of any thinking person. It certainly does that for me.
[Gephardt] said yesterday that President Bush lacks an understanding of the complexities of national security policy and has displayed a cowboy mentality toward the rest of the world that threatens to leave the country less secure against terrorist and other threats.
Gephardt, who supported the resolution authorizing Bush to go to war against Iraq, passionately defended that vote, which has drawn criticism from Democratic activists in his bid for the party's nomination, by describing how much the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed his views about preventing terrorism.
But while acknowledging he has embraced some of the broad goals of Bush's policy since then, Gephardt said that, based on his meetings with Bush, he does not trust the president to conduct foreign policy....
Gephardt was harsh in his assessment of the president. Although saying the United States has the right to take preemptive action to prevent terrorism, Gephardt said Bush's decision to make preemption a stated policy "is not a sensible thing to do." Bush's failure to enlist greater international support, he said, is part of what has led him to describe the president as "a miserable failure."
Gephardt offered a disparaging portrait of the president, based on meetings at the White House since Sept. 11, 2001. "He doesn't carry on a discussion about what we're trying to do with a particular issue with any kind of minimal understanding," he said. Bush operates with a "cowboy kind of a belief" that there are issues that are black and white, Gephardt said. "There's just no deep understanding of the complexity of this thing."
Gephardt makes an excellent argument, but if he is hoping to somehow present himself as the "thinking man's alternative", he'd best be prepared to be sorely disappointed. At this point, Gephardt has neither the organization, the appeal, or the money of Howard Dean or Wesley Clark. Indeed, he seems more like a perennial candidate, someone who keeps running for office without any realistic hope of winning- a rational Lyndon LaRouche, if you will. It's too bad, really, because Gephardt is a dedicated, thoughtful, and thoroughly capable public servant. He's just never going to be President.
