In praise of doubt

Now this is what presidential wisdom looks like, with its subtleties emphasized:

[W]e now have some evidence that chemical weapons have been used on the populations in Syria. Now, these are preliminary assessments. They're based on our intelligence gathering. We have varying degrees of confidence about the actual use, but there are a range of questions around how, when, where these weapons may have been used.

One is tempted to muse that the last Bush administration could have used similarly heavy doses of such doubt and skepticism, but of course that would be folly. Doubt and skepticism of perilous adventures were never in short supply at the Bush-Cheney school of maladministration; they were, rather, utterly absent, for they were also the enemy itself.

Swagger doesn't ask questions. 

Praise Jesus. Obama does.

Comments

[BobB]

Too bad he wasn't so thoughtful before he made that "red line" comment. That was really stupid.

[Peter G]

It kind of blows a hole in what I always thought was my finest epigram: Great leaders seldom show doubt and poor leaders seldom entertain them. Circa Goerge W Bush.