Hirsh: Lute won't change Bush's lack of interest to details

When looking at the resume of Lt. General Douglas Lute, many would agree that he is qualified to be  in some national security-level position.  The real question is whether Lute can change Bush? 

Michael Hirsh of Newsweek says don't bet on it:

Lute, in other words, is being hired on as Bush’s messenger man—the guywho, theoretically, can deliver presidential demands to State orDefense that certain resources are to be delivered to certain places.But there’s the rub. The only way for Lute to be even marginallyeffective is if a president who has been consistently uninterested inthe details of the Iraq conflict for the past four years—and in thenitty-gritty of Afghanistan for most of the last five years—startsobsessing over those details with just 18 months to go in his term. Andthat’s unlikely to happen. A leader who’s already poring over plans forhis presidential library doesn’t start changing his governing habitsthis late in the game.

In other words, you can't simply transform an ideologue into a realist overnight, just as you don't bring in a right-fielder to close a ballgame in the ninth inning.  It just does not work.

Comments

[granny]

Change Bush = Oxymoron