On Second Thought

On second thought I think I may have misjudged a politician. His popularity seemed full of hope and promise for a real person in government rather than a politician.

He was at first attacked in the press as too new to government to accomplish his promises. His appointments were questioned.
I was prepared to wait, give him a chance and be content to braid rope. Meaning, if he failed to best administer then he would have to pay the price for failure.

From the comfort of hindsight I now see he failed because of poor character. Like any failed general, his lack of ethics and morals resulted in failed policies and his resistance to see reality rather than what seems best to his own self. His failure to include his opposition in shaping the future resulted in the catastrophic costs of WW2.

I speak of Woodrow Wilson. His prejudices and egotism at the 1919 Versailles Conference led to the Second World War. He refused to bring along a prominent Republican who could help get the US Senate to ratify the Versailles Treaty leading to our exclusion from the League of Nations which led to WW2.

Wilson embraced at Versailles the policy of trying to deal with other countries as if they shared our own democratic traditions. A mistake we have since repeated regularly. His southern prejudices colored his views on equality in America. Who did you think I meant?