A perfect storm for George W. Bush

Bush's Perfect Storm:

Imagine if a few weeks ago someone had polled all of the Bush critics in the country, and asked them to list the primary faults that they see in this administration. I suspect, give or take a few entries, the results would have looked something like this:

• Obsession with Iraq at the cost of all other national priorities
• Unwillingness to admit mistakes
• Hostility to science
• Embarrassing juvenile attitude
• Indifference to the fates of the poorest members of society
• Cronyism and unwillingness to fire anyone for incompetence
• Tendency to spend way too much time on vacation
• Inability to plan and execute large-scale operations effectively

If Hurricane Katrina ends up being the turning point when it becomes clear to a solid majority of the country that Bush has been a fundamentally incompetent leader, I suspect it will be because the Katrina crisis turned out expose all eight of these flaws.

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Dreaming A New New Orleans

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Dreaming A New New Orleans, Version 1

On leadership and public service

Fascinating essay on leadership, public service, and the lack thereof these days: Groundhog Day: Change

[...] There is something that keeps a group of people together that is more than just a paycheck. We "honor" individuals within our group as a way of renewing and strengthening that thing that keeps us together. It's about faith, which is a word that is much abused of late. It's about keeping faith with one another, and the really important things we believe, even if we don't think about them much. To honor someone is to keep faith with them. Honor, the noun, is the quality of having kept faith with one's fellows.
Leadership is the act of renewing and strengthening that faith. Leadership is embodying that faith and living it, having it be a part of one's life, recognizing that each of us is a part of something greater than ourselves, and that's not our company or our corporation.