From: Jurriaan Bendien (adsl675281@TISCALI.NL)
Date: Sat Jun 30 2007 - 06:37:47 EDT
Hi Jerry, It is true that ideology influences political leaders, but what I am saying is, that we ought to examine then how it does so and not exaggerate the importance of intellectual distinctions. There is a big difference between ideology motivating what a political leader does, and ideology justifying what he does. Initially, a politician is typically an idealist, but then when he actually has to do something, he becomes increasingly pragmatic, even although this pragmatism may itself be rationalised with reference to ideology. An interesting example is that of Mr Bush. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said that at Aqaba, Bush promised to speak with Sharon about the siege on Arafat. He said nobody can speak to or pressure Sharon except the Americans. According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them." Jurriaan
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