In a bubble

President Bush has been accused of ignoring the news and listening only to a small group of close advisors. There ought to be more candid debate and discussion. Eliot Cohen, writing at Opinion Journal, had this to say:

"Political leaders, except those of the very first order, can and do become detached from the realities of the world around them. Surrounded by sympathizers and sycophants, subjected to a ceaseless torrent of criticism, consumed by an unending stream of work, deprived, for the most part, of the spontaneity of unstructured debate, the danger is not that they will say things that they do not believe. It is, rather, that they will come to believe things because they have said them, and to act accordingly."

Perhaps it isn't always enough just to want to be a truthful politician.