Rubenerd

Sometimes it's not a good idea going through Google Reader first thing in the morning, because an image from a shared article makes you jump out of your chair and spray the cereal that was in your mouth all over the place.

I was half expecting the book that was attached to an article Sparx shared was a satire piece, but it turns out it's real. From Amazon.com's product page:

Don’t laugh when you see the title of a new book that challenges the elite’s view that President Bush is no brainiac: The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush. Really. “We did it,” says coauthor Carolyn Thompson, a leadership expert, “because he’s so widely underestimated and because everybody thinks he’s not what he really is.” That would be Master Leader, she and James Ware conclude in their scholarly study. More in-depth than others like The Rumsfeld Way, it charts Bush’s 10 common-sense leadership lessons, like: Hire smart, build trust, talk straight, and leave aides alone.

I was unaware expecting the leader of the most powerful country in the world to display more intelligence than a sock puppet made me an elitst. Then again, the book was published in 2002; while it would have still been difficult to pull off back then, one thinks it would have been infinitely more difficult if they did it now.

The comments included with the the book seem especially tragic especially given what happened after 2002. I think Robert A. Watson and I are thinking of two different George W. Bushes:

“Carolyn Thompson and James Ware have it right . . . leadership is about what one is, not just what one does. About character, not just charisma . . . about credibility, not just credentials. This timely account of The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush will truly encourage and inspire readers.”
–Commissioner Robert A. Watson, Retired National Commander, The Salvation Army, U.S.A.

I'm hotly anticipating the followup "Microsoft: 10 common sense lessons in ethical business"!