Character matters

Perhaps amongst us old-timers, that is a familiar phrase.  President George Herbert Walker Bush said that in a debate with then Governor Bill Clinton back in 1992.  I was just thinking about that.

Clinton's supporters said that character didn't matter.  In a way, they haven't given up that point of view, they have doubled down on it.  It carries forward to this very day.  But that doesn't stop them from accusing the Republicans of a lack of character, as they did with Bush's son "Dubya" with respond to the War in Iraq.

You see, they kept after him after him about admitting a mistake in starting the war.  They wanted him to admit that he made a mistake.  Bush didn't admit that the war was a mistake, but I think it was.  I had a bad feeling about it when it started back in 2003.  If I had the influence, I would have advised him not to do it.  Yes, I have even stated that in this blog.  My view then and now was that he would have the left turn on him and they sure did.  His mistake was political.  Even if going into Iraq was the right thing to do in the abstract, the most concrete thing was the political reality of the Democrats.  If things went badly, they would turn on him.  If he kept them on board with his policies, they would have a much harder time attacking him for them.

It is rather hard to admit a mistake.  But that is what the left is doing in defending Obama right now.  His most ardent supporters are going to defend him no matter what.  They are the ones who were supporting Clinton when they said that character didn't matter.  So, they are true to form.  They don't have the character to admit a mistake.  That's true even though they don't mind using that when it is to their advantage.

This reminded me of a question that was asked of Romney in one of the debates last fall.  Someone asked him how he would be different from Bush.  One thing he could have said was that he didn't support the decision to go into Iraq.  But in doing so, he didn't endorse Obama's ideas on the economy.  You see, we got Obama mainly because of the war in Iraq.  The economic policies came along with the deal.  The deal also includes a rather blase view about terrorism.  Romney could have distinguished himself from Bush and Obama if he had have mentioned Bush's mistake and also mentioned that he had a track record of working with the Democrats in Massachusetts.  Romney probably didn't answer that adequately, as his candidacy missed the mark and lost.

It would help Republicans if they had chosen better in the primaries.  Romney was a mistake.

Character does matter and our leaders are missing that quality.  It has been so for quite some time and we are going to pay a huge price for it if things do not change and change soon.