Focus Group Leadership

Karl Rove wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal today about the White House’s fixation on Rush Limbaugh. Buried in the story is this gem: Clues might be found in the revelation that senior White House staff meet for two hours each Wednesday evening to digest their latest polling and focus-group research. I would bet a steak dinner at Morton's in Chicago these Wednesday Night Meetings discussed growing public opposition to spending, omnibus pork, more bailout money for banks and car companies, and new taxes on energy, work and capital. Running the country based on opinion polls rather from core principles leads to major policy zigzags that demonstrate a lack of resolve. Clinton’s precipitous withdrawal from Mogadishu, Somalia after the Black Hawk Down incident and the brutal videos that followed, gave Osama bin Laden the impression the USA didn’t have a backbone. And in the case of the new administration, it isn’t just a zigzag, it’s a complete 180. Drudge carried these screaming red ledes just 24 hours after the latest Wednesday evening confab. DIRE EMERGENCY CANCELLED: Obama Declares: Economic crisis 'not as bad as we think'... Retail sales not as bad as feared... From now on, look for Thursday to be the day for major policy change.