Mistakes . . . Will Be Made

Joe "Bigmouth" Biden mentioned the other day that the President and he discussed that whatever they did, 30% of it would be wrong. This was like a second Christmas for the Faux News guy, who jumped on it. Obama evaded the question, and moved on, but it's a simple fact. In novel and difficult situations where conflicting advice is being offered by lots of apparently qualified people, human decision makers make lots of mistakes.

A look at the greatest American presidents shows tha they each made lots of mistakes. Lincoln, the greatest president, had the toughest problem and made as many mistakes as any. One of the things that made Lincoln great was his ability to recognize his mistakes and try something else.

George Bush, perhaps our worst president, seemed utterly unable to recognize his errors, even though he made blunder after blunder.

Despite this fact, it's not good policy for the leader to admit this in advance during times of crisis. Leaders need to look strong and decisive when they choose new policies, even if they are less than confident in the outcomes.

As I mentioned, even the best leaders make mistakes. But does Biden have to keep making the same stupid mistake over and over?

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