Bush debate answer reveals flaw

To the editor:

The most telling moment in Friday's presidential debate came at the very end, when an audience member stood and asked the president to name three mistakes he's made while in office. Bush wouldn't or couldn't do it, however, I can certainly recall several mistakes the president has made.

Ignoring the State Department's plan for winning the peace in Iraq. In the months before the war, the State Department created an elaborate guide to establishing order in Iraq, but the Pentagon utterly ignored it. Bush administration leaders predicted our troops would be greeted with flowers, but a year and a half later, Iraq is in chaos and an insurgency is growing.

Signing a report endorsing the outsourcing of jobs to other countries. In February, the president's annual report to Congress on the U.S. economy reflected the philosophy that "outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade."

Failing to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act. A number of state legislatures have now come out against the bill, saying that there is no way to meet the goals set by No Child Left Behind with the paltry funding they've been offered.

Of course, there are many more. I feel that the "mistakes" question captures one of the president's deepest character flaws: he'll stay the course even when we're headed off a cliff.

BETH ROBINSON, Cape Girardeau