Waiting can work too
Re “Obama finds the Bush center,” Feb. 24
Barely a month into President Obama’s term, Times columnist Jonah Goldberg lambastes the president for not changing all of President Bush’s policies.
I’m guessing that Goldberg is an academic policy wonk with little or no experience in the real world.
As a Marine platoon sergeant, I learned never to change anything immediately when I took over a platoon. I watched how the platoon functioned and how the men interacted. Most successful businessmen follow the same guidelines when being put in a new position of management.
Obama’s decision to not change Bush’s policies immediately are by no means an endorsement of those policies, as Goldberg would like us to think. Rather, it is the sign of a thoughtful and careful president who doesn’t make rash judgments and decisions based on his gut.
That’s something that was missing in the Oval Office for the last eight years, and something that is always missing from Goldberg’s columns.
Peter W. Palmer
San Pedro
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