After hearing last year that George W. Bush was going to embark on a career as a motivational speaker, all the predictable jokes and comments came to mind. It was just too easy.
Bush never struck me as a great model of motivation. In college, he was described as an average student. During the Vietnam war, his father got him a cushy gig in the National Guard since W. wasn't motivated to do his duty and fight in the war. His oil company, Arbusto, failed, so he apparently wasn't too motivated there, either.
He was, however, apparently motivated to run for public office. Some say that motivation was to keep up with -- or outdo -- his brother Jeb, and thereby win his father's approval.
Then he was appointed by the Supreme Court to the presidency, where he seemed to be motivated only in matters of destruction: Attacking Afghanistan, and then making up excuses to attack the unarmed nation of Iraq.
So now he is a motivational speaker, and I cannot help but wonder how he intends to motivate others, and in what ways? (On the other hand, I probably don't want to know.)
Then recently I happened to watch an HBO recording of Robin Williams in his latest stand-up tour, "Weapons of Self-Destruction". And Williams nailed it: He said that having Bush as a motivational speaker is like having Lindsay Lohan as your guidance counselor.
Indeed. (With apologies to Ms. Lohan.)
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