COLUMNISTS must be some of the most self-confident people in the world. While reporters relate the news, columnists purport to tell you what to think about the news. Thus, it was refreshing to see David Broder, a veteran political journalist for over 40 years, admit last Thursday that he has been wrong on occasion. Speaking at the Miller Center for Public Affairs, the Pulitzer-winning Washington Post columnist revealed his many "misjudgments" about President Bush.
Broder's confession that he had, as George W. would say, "misunderestimated" his subject is a mea culpa that has been repeated quite often lately in the press. Mark Halperin, Washington bureau chief for ABC News, made a similar admission last month at the Miller Center.
With a free Iraq now spurring a peaceful revolution in Lebanon and fostering democracy in autocracies like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, why is it that so many of our most pessimistic political pundits have been proven so wrong about President Bush's agenda?
Broder summed it up with his explanation that "This is a faith-based presidency." By this, Broder was alluding to, but not talking about, the president's "faith-based initiatives" on religious charities. What he also meant was that Bush is a leader who governs by the courage of his own convictions instead of following the polls. For example, Broder said he was struck by Bush's confidence that he would get his first round of tax cuts passed in 2001, when it was anything but a sure thing.
Aside from taxes, Broder pointed out how Bush has been willing to challenge the status quo on everything from education to health care to foreign policy, with his "No Child Left Behind" initiative, the new Medicare prescription drug program, and the preemption doctrine in Iraq. Contrary to popular misconceptions, Broder also challenged the notion that Bush is a "front man" for the administration as "180 degrees mistaken." "[Bush] is the driving force," he said.
The media's lack of faith in the president's leadership is not the only explanation for their misjudgments. Being stuck inside the Beltway for decades and internalizing the wayward ways of Washington is another major factor for journalists' tunnel vision. Despite being the son of a president and grandson of a U.S. senator, George W. came to Washington as an outsider. As Broder put it, "This is somebody who in his forties decided to grow up, and did it overnight."
Far from being a shortcoming, this outsider's perspective proved to be a virtue. One of the first things Bush did in office was to cancel the U.S.-Russia Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which, despite its name, blocked the deployment of missile defenses more than it blocked against missile threats.
While Chicken Littles inside Washington cried that this would cause the sky to implode from a nuclear holocaust, Russia actually reduced its arsenal. As an outsider, Bush had more faith in his own wisdom than in the Washington wisdom that the best defense was no defense.
As President Bush pushes into his second term, it seems that the punditocracy has been willing to admit its misjudgments but not to learn from them. Already, newspapers like the Washington Post have been beating up on Bush's efforts to reform Social Security, and Broder was no less skeptical about the issue in his talk.
However, based on the media's lackluster record these past few years, it would be foolish to believe everything you read or hear from them.
Folks like Broder may have the wisdom of decades spent covering the Beltway, but sometimes it's better to have a little faith in a leader who is willing to step up to the plate and challenge that wisdom.
Eric Wang's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ewang@cavalierdaily.com.
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