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If only George Bush had known Bryce Harlow « Thread Started

Daily newsbrief journal for November 2005, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


If only George Bush had known Bryce Harlow « Thread Started

Postby admin » Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:41 pm

If only George Bush had known Bryce Harlow « Thread Started on Nov 19, 2005, 4:19am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mark Shields: If only George Bush had known Bryce Harlow Monday, November 7, 2005; Posted: 3:19 p.m. EST (20:19 GMT) read source: http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/07/ ... WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- I really wish President George W. Bush could have spent some real quality time with Bryce Harlow. It would have done both Bush and the nation a lot of good.Bryce Harlow was an authentic Washington wise man. He came here from his native Oklahoma, and his judgment and integrity were recognized by General George C. Marshall, who employed Harlow, then a young Army officer, for assistance in dealing with Congress during the Roosevelt and Truman years of 1941-46. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford all sought his superb counsel and were well-served when they heeded it. For Ike, Bryce Harlow perfected, if he did not invent, the modern art of White House congressional relations.As the citation for the Medal of Freedom he was awarded by President Ronald Reagan read: "(H)is experience and advice have helped bring out the best in countless public servants of both parties in the White House, in the Congress and across the nation." I was privileged to know and learn from this 5 foot, 2 inch giant.What is the only indispensable quality in any White House's successful relations with any Congress? "Trust is the coin of the realm," Harlow patiently explained. Once that trust is lost, as he so sadly watched it squandered during Richard Nixon's Watergate, Harlow knew that a president would never again qualify for the benefit of the doubt on Capitol Hill.He once offered this theory on why Richard Nixon, a man whom he admired, was so widely and intensely disliked: "People didn't like him for the simple reason that he didn't like people. Life tends to do that. If you like people, they will like you. That's why people liked Ike."But here is the insight Bryce Harlow, that rare man who took his job seriously but never himself, gave me that I wish every president, most especially the incumbent, could have heard:"There is no bigger problem for any president than getting candid criticism and blunt counsel. The problem is the office, itself. I cannot count how many powerful congressional chairmen or captains of industry or university presidents told me: 'If I could only have five minutes alone with the president, I could show him the error of his ways and straighten out what he's doing wrong. Then, when the chairman or the CEO or leading citizen is ushered into the Oval Office, without exception, the fiercest critic turns into the most uncritical cheerleader, mumbling: 'Our prayers are with you, Mr. President. You're doing a great job.'"Jim Cannon, the journalist-turned-counselor who served Gov. Nelson Rockefeller before working as domestic policy chief in the White House of his friend President Gerald Ford, agrees with Harlow: "People, no matter how powerful, stand in awe when they find themselves alone with the president. I can recall one head of state who was totally tongue-tied, unable even to speak, in the company of President Ford."President Jimmy Carter's presidential assistant for communications, Gerald Rafshoon, echoes the Harlow-Cannon insight: A private audience with the president would breed "excessive deference and awe" on the part of the major visitor. Even important individuals who outside were "outspoken in their criticism" of the president "would turn into sycophants" once they crossed the threshold.Paul Begala, who went from campaign strategist to White House advisor for President Bill Clinton, recalls the fury and anger of major political figures "simply melting away once they were in the presence of the president," who then told Begala that he had "overreacted" in insisting that "some powerful committee chairman" had been "upset."As much as any chief executive in recent memory, George W. Bush genuinely needs to hear frank, unvarnished criticism from those who want him and, more importantly, the nation to succeed. Trust is truly the coin of the political realm, and every president must hear the truth -- even when it hurts.
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