SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY DEPT

‘British political philosopher Isaiah Berlin once classified all thinkers as either hedgehogs or foxes. Hedgehogs have only one big idea; foxes have lots of little ideas. That analysis beautifully describes the difference between Bill Clinton’s and George W. Bush’s styles of thinking…President Clinton thinks brilliantly about a lot of small things. Bush II is a thinker like Reagan. He knows only one thing – that conservatism must be a way to help the needy, not to pad the wealthy. Unlike his father, whose thinking style was more a collection of details like Clinton’s, Dubya keeps his attention focused on his central theme and lets others fill in the blanks. This difference in thinking styles was most in evidence during the Bush-Gore debates. Gore wallowed in specifics. He based his entire campaign on a collection of details – his prescription-drug benefit contrasted with Bush’s, his Social Security plan vs. the Republicans’ – while Bush spoke of concepts and more basic ideas. It wasn’t that Bush didn’t know the details, but that he didn’t much care. He knows, instinctively, that details don’t matter as much as big ideas do.’ – Dick Morris, New York Post, January 3, 2001.