Hunting The Muse

Macro Strategy

One contrast that struck me in Bush's press conference is that his vision was on a much more macro level than the criticisms against him.  "We're changing the world," etc.  Leaving aside arguments that his attitude is stupid and simplistic, he is defending a vision that has to do with more than the next six months.

In turn, I'm worried that many of us are getting too micro.  Focusing on every little failure, throwing thousands of tiny darts - it's a good way to weaken a foundation that deserves to be weakened, but it's also a good way to distract ourselves from larger movements.

It can also be taken advantage of - when we get too micro and too aggressive, it's easy for us to be trapped.  Basically any source of information that alludes to a Bush weakness is considered fair game to parrot about and pass around.  What are the chances of disinformation that can be knocked down easily later?

I'm concerned because I think there's risk of backfire.  I've heard from three different areas of my personal sphere that they think the press is ganging up on Bush.  Bush is never going to be seen as the guy that is the source of all the evil machinations of the administration, so it's going to be easier for people to identify with him as an underdog that has been treated unfairly.

The other thing about the micro level is that it distracts us from plans the Bush administration might have in place for the future.  One obvious example is the Saddam trial.  Is this trial going to happen during election season?

Posted by Curt at April 20, 2004 08:14 PM