Thursday - February 05, 2009

Barack Obama needs to learn that apologising is for wimps.

It hardly matters to me (sometimes but not always) what this lady writes.  I just think she writes well and knows how to use the language. Very often she is quite funny.  I also like her looks. Which is not why I posted this article. But it is why I posted her photo.

Barack Obama needs to learn that apologising is for wimps
Politicians shouldn’t apologise, it just undermines our confidence in them, says Bryony Gordon.

By Bryony Gordon
Last Updated: 8:34AM GMT 05 Feb 2009

They say that sorry seems to be the hardest word. Certainly, Carol Thatcher has been having some trouble with it of late, especially regarding conversations about tennis players and the resemblance they may or may not bear to children’s toys. Gordon Brown also finds it a difficult one to get his mouth around, particularly in relation to the crumbling economy. Instead, he seems to have opted for the political equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming: “SNOT MY FAULT, IT’S THEIRS.”

But the best non-apology ever must surely go to former defence secretary Des Browne. Of the sailors captured in Iran two years ago, and his decision to allow them to sell their stories, he said: “I have expressed a degree of regret that can be equated with an apology.”
Oh Des. A bunch of flowers would have sufficed.

Politicians don’t really do apologies, which is why the world briefly teetered on its axis this week when Barack Obama issued one, and a heartfelt one at that. Just two weeks into his presidency, Obama went on television to talk about Tom Daschle, the man he had nominated as health and human services secretary, a man who was forced to withdraw after it transpired that he had forgotten to pay some of his taxes. While any self-respecting politician would have stood up and pinned all the blame on Daschle, Obama went on record to praise him, and then blame himself. “I screwed up,” he said. “I take responsibility for this mistake.”

I’m sorry? Come again?

Most people believe this to be a very good thing indeed. They think “good grief, the man even apologises! And by admitting his mistakes, he has just proved himself to be even more perfect.” But I am not so convinced. I don’t want the most powerful man in the world to admit that he has screwed up, and so early on. I didn’t much care about this Daschle fellow, but thanks to this mea culpa my confidence in the Leader of the Free World has been severely dented. I’m sorry, but apologising is for wimps.

I know this because I do it all the time. Someone treads on my foot. I say sorry. A person knocks me on the Tube. I say sorry. I throw a one pound coin into the hat of a busker only to miss. I say sorry. If a burglar was hurt crashing through my front window, I would probably say sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I know quite a few people who apologise all the time, and what we have in common is that we are all pathetic, weedy excuses for human beings. Bosses, friends and family do not think we are decent people – they just think that we have self esteem issues and could do with some therapy.

I don’t think I can deal with another four years of Mr Obama saying sorry every time he screws up, which he inevitably will. Eventually it will seem tedious, needy and grasping rather than charming. Never apologise, never explain, Barack.

BRYONY

Posted by peiper     on 02/05/2009 at 08:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • UK •  
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