63 percent of Americans disagree with Bush

It has been my pleasure to know and work with political leaders in many venues. The City of Fort Worth, the State of Texas, members of the U.S. Senate, and U.S. Congress, members of Parliament of several nations such as Mongolia, Nepal, India, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, a few Presidents, Prime Ministers and a King or two.

I know that you have also met some influential people, but bet that none are as congenial and charming as Jim Wright, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States for many years. The Speaker of the House stands third in power of succession to the President of the United States and is a position of power. Therefore I always feel awe and respect, and a sense of history when I sit with my friend, Jim Wright.

Today I had lunch with Jim Wright, once one of the most powerful men in America.  Another great Texan, Don Woodard who ran for Mayor of Ft. Worth, and for State Congress joined us. These two men have had influence on significant events of the USA and the world. It was a good time to pick their brains. I asked Jim Wright what his perspective was on America and global affairs.

Speaker Wright is concerned with America’s foreign policy. He cited polls just released that showed that for the first time a majority of Americans polled said that if there was a presidential election today, they would prefer someone other than George W. Bush. “This is largely because of his foreign policy” Mr. Wright said. Another spot poll showed that 63% of Americans “feel strongly opposed to George W. Bush’s foreign policy”. “President Bush has shown a drop of over 20 points in the past 6 weeks, one of the most dramatic free falls in American polling history” Wright said.

I asked: “Why do you suppose Americans are losing faith in Bush?” Citing that Bush was elected promising honesty, “His argument that his administration is honest is wearing thin.” He mentioned Enron, or Halliburton (Cheney’s company), the corruption, the failures to tell the American people the truth about Iraq, and the gall to drag our boys into a war under false pretenses, and that the American people are finding out that Bush’s ‘honest look you in the eye’ manner is really that of a man who speaks with forked tongue. “I have conclude that he is a man who thinks he has to prove something to his Daddy, or perhaps he thinks he needs to prove that he can be a competent president.” Jim Wright said.

Then Mr. Wright talked about the ethics of economic leadership that is required to make a nation great. “Herbert Hoover, just before the great depression made a series of speeches to convince the American people of the magic of a non regulated business economy. He tried to tell the American people that capitalism had a magic that it would automatically make everything balance out through the markets. It took the disastrous freefall in markets, agriculture and real estate in the Great Depression to prove that Government regulation was necessary to curb the excesses of greed and unscrupulous fat cats. George W. Bush and his cronies are teaching that same old ‘magic trick’ again. At the expense of the American people and the people of the world.” Said Wright, “Look at Arthur Anderson, MCI, World Com, Enron and all the others for they are a testament to the failure of deregulation and markets without government rules and oversight.” Wright said.

Then he said something profound: "Ruskin wrote that the strength of a society can be measured by the amount of persuasion that may be used as opposed to the amount of force necessary. Great societies cannot flourish in police states where intimidated masses obey. To induce morality by fear of punishment is to offer a 'choice between two evils-not a choice between good and evil'. It won't matter how many bombs we have, if the spirit of America is imploded within us." Said Jim Wright, Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, over lunch today.