Charlie Rose’s interviews

Charlie Rose on KAWE-TV, PBS, this week interviewed Tom Donilon, President Obama’s national security adviser.

Mr. Donilon fills the role Condoleeza Rice had with former President George Bush, Jr. He gives Mr. Obama security updates each morning for 30-40 minutes.

Mr. Donilon is conservative, but he expressed the very highest regard for Mr. Obama’s skills as an executive. He said Obama listens well, asks the right questions, leaves no stone unturned, gets to the heart of the matter, carefully pursues all the possible options, considers the long view (10 years down the road), then when he has all he needs, quickly makes his decision, even when difficult, accepting that as conditions change he may need to change his position. According to Mr. Donilon, President Obama has the highest natural executive skills, and considers doubts about the president’s executive skills baseless.

Mr. Donilon feels suggestions that a president should have the skills of “running a business” is misinformed, as they require two entirely different skill sets.

Companies and corporations are dictatorships; the country needs someone who knows how to lead a democracy, not a dictatorship. Being a former CEO isn’t very relevant to the job as president of the United States, although it’s important for one who wants to run another corporation, or some sort of dictatorship.

I highly recommend Charlie Rose’s interviews, and other news programs on PBS, for those wishing to get a more accurate, politically balanced picture of what is actually going on. Much of the “news” on corporate commercial television is meant to excite: and, they only tell us what they want us to know. Too often it’s for hidden or selfish purposes; often it causes us to be very misinformed (like Iraq’s WMDs, uranium yellow cake, etc.) and sometimes leads us to war.

A. Martin

Merrifield