25 May 2007

Nine Guys Are Banging Their Head Against a Wall

Nine guys are banging their head against the wall. Their foreheads are bloody, the wall unfazed.

A guy walks by and says, "Why don't you stop that?"

"What!?" they loudly exclaim. "And admit defeat?"

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain assailed Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on Friday for voting against legislation paying for the Iraq war, accusing them of embracing "the policy of surrender."

"What is Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton's 'Plan B' if we withdraw?" McCain, an Arizona senator who backed the measure, said in a telephone interview. "What are their options if the withdrawal fails and we have chaos and genocide?"

Yet, when pressed, McCain suggested he didn't have an alternative plan for success should President Bush's recent troop build-up, which he supports, fail. "We are examining many other plans and none of the options are good," he said. "I have other options, but they are not good."

2 comments:

Life Hiker said...

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never-"

"You lie," he cried,
And ran on.
________________________

Stephen Crane
"The Black Riders and Other Lines"
#24

Your nine guys reminded me of Crane's horizon chaser.

Admitting mistakes, especially big ones, is one mark of a truly effective person. It allows one to go on, to change course and find a new way to succeed. Sadly, many of our leaders continue to chase the horizon, unable to see the futility of it, and wasting energy that should be put to use on more effective pursuits.

Ron Davison said...

I had not seen that by Crane. Sadly germane. Thanks.