Reply #46: Maybe it's a pragmatic decision [View All]

[UncleSepp]

When something seriously wrong is happening at work, I usually stay home to fix it by remoting in rather than waste time driving to work. There's nothing other than actually putting hands on hardware that I can't do from home with a broadband connection and a cell phone.

If the President's job is basically to have people tell him what's going on, then make a decision and tell other people what it is, it seems like that's well enough done from anywhere. Why not stay put at the ranch and not waste a day getting to Washington to talk on the phone there instead of talk on the phone in Texas? Not to mention that for the President, there's a huge expense and expenditure of other people's time and effort to make a trip like that. It seems perfectly practical, and perhaps even considerate of the staff, to stay in Texas and work from home. Going to Washington would just be a media-friendly gesture that would not seem to increase his effectiveness.

If he has to meet with people face to face, they can be flown to Texas as easily as they can be flown to D.C., probably easier due to not having as much congestion getting into Crawford as getting into a major city on the crowded East Coast. Welcoming leaders into something that is more like a family home than the White House seems to be friendlier anyway. If I were in his place, I'd probably do the same thing.