Who’s stubborn, Bush or the media?

William McGurn, George W Bush’s head speechwriter until a couple of weeks ago, has written an editorial that is well worth reading. It’s illuminating to get such a view from the other side of the media fence, even if this piece comes across a little plaintive.

When a man hangs up his byline to write for a president, he gets more than a new job. He gets to see how the press and pundit corps look from the other side of the notepad.

And over three years in the West Wing, you see a few things. You see who’s a straight shooter, and who’s full of snark. You see who’s smart, and whose outrageous behavior would have made its way to Drudge had it involved White House staffers instead of White House correspondents. Most of all, you see how conventional wisdom can keep otherwise talented reporters and commentators on the same stale storyline long after the facts on the ground have changed.

He does make a few very good points. In particular, he notes the irony of the protrayal of Bush as a stubborn, intransigent ideologue, when several examples illustrate the stubborn determination of an editorialising media corps to cling to a story once they’ve made up their minds.

A line in his resignation letter (PDF) reads: “I remember [on 9/11] looking up at the sky and wondering what kind of world my girls would inherit. And I remember saying to [my wife] Julie, ‘Let’s be thankful that George W Bush is president’.”

In this article, he echoes that sentiment. I largely agree with his assessment, and like him, I also admire George W Bush for having the courage and conviction to take necessary decisions, difficult decisions, and as McGurn describes it, to “take the heat” for them.

Still, you can’t help thinking that McGurn is defending not only Bush’s failures to communicate, but his own.