The amazing Mr. Bush

The president's poll numbers reached an all-time low a couple of months ago and have stayed there.

His approval rating continues to hover around 30 percent and his disapproval rating is at 65 percent, tying the highest disapproval rating for a sitting president since public opinion polling first started. The 30 percent approval rating is obviously made up of Bush loyalists who are going to support him, right or wrong.

And even some of those, especially Re-publican congressmen who have their own elections to win in the next election cycle, are jumping ship as well. The Vice-President's approval ratings, by the way, are about half of the Pre-sident's; down a-round 15 percent.

Of course, ground zero for his high disapproval ratings is the Iraqi War. Why we started it, how it's being waged, and how and when we're going to get out. But it's important to note that it's not ALL about the Iraqi War. In addition to the war, the president has failed to get passed the lions' share of his domestic policy as well.

But this column is not about the pros and cons of the Iraqi War, his foreign policy, or his domestic policy. This column is about stubbornness and bull-headedness.

It's about surrounding yourself with "yes" people or people known to share the same perspectives you do and an absolute unwillingness to listen to the other side of the story or sometimes even admit there IS another side to the story.

The Executive Branch of our government has "hunkered down" inside the bowels of the White House and, in doing so, simply refuses to listen to the will of the people.

We've all known people who were fixed, rigid, unbending, unyielding, and stubborn. We've all known people who refuse to face the facts, even when the facts are as clear as the nose on their face, people who continue to say they're right and everyone else is wrong.

The amazing thing is that most people don't really take a shine to people like this because these people tend to be totally lacking in objectivity or an ability to admit they may not be right. It's too bad that people like this, and these people include our president, seem to believe that admitting that they may have been wrong is a personal failing when, in fact, it's a personal achievement.

Because we're human and fallible, we all make mistakes. No one's perfect and no one's always right but this obvious fact seems to have escaped Mr. Bush and his inner circle.

He continues to justify the reasons for the Iraqi War. He continues to insist that we can't leave, although we continue to lose brave American men and women every day.

He continues to wrap the Iraqi War in the blanket of fighting terrorism, even though that connection has never been factually made. The president's party suffered a crushing defeat at the polls during the last election cycle, losing both houses of Congress to the Democrats, in a desperate attempt by the people of this country to send a message to the White House.

For the past 20 years, a majority of people in this country have voted for U.S. Senators and Congressmen and women simply because they had an "R" beside their name.

Last November, the process reversed itself and people voted for those who had a "D" beside their name. This typically is the peoples' only way to talk to their leaders and to express their opposition to current policy and decision-making but again, this was lost on the president. A few weeks after the election, the president announced his new "surge" plan to send substantially more troops to Iraq rather than beginning the process of drawing down.

The president's absolute unwillingness to listen to the heartbeat of the American people have many Republican officials fearful that the next election will be even worse than the last one; that is if you have an "R" next to your name on the ballot.

I have a friend I play golf with several times a week. For over a year, his Achilles heel was hole number six at Heritage Hills. Often he would have a good round going until he got to the sixth tee box and then he would invariably screw it up. I saw him take big numbers day after day on that hole, effectively sabotaging his entire round until one day he said "enough."

He changed everything. He changed the club he used from the tee box. He changed the length of his swing. He changed the target zone he was shooting for. And literally, all at once, that hole went from his worst hole to one of his best. Today he pars it with regularity and the demons of the past have been exorcised in the process.

Sometimes we have to admit defeat. We have to admit we were wrong. We have to admit we made bad decisions.

It's hard to do but it makes us a better person when we can and, rather than disappointing and letting down other people as some think it does, it actually increases their respect for us. Because nobody is right all the time and a little humility never hurt anyone.

But if you continue to do what you've always done, you'll continue to get what you've always gotten.