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Job evaluation: George W. Bush

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BayGBM:
Job evaluation: George W. Bush
It hasn't been a good year for the president. Even he knows that.

December 31, 2006

IT'S THAT TIME of year, when the drones of corporate America gather their No. 2 pencils and call over to human resources for all the personnel files. The dirty little secret (or maybe it's not so secret) is that managers resent these yearly job performance evaluations as much as employees do. But why let the private sector have all the fun? An election is a kind of evaluation, of course, but what if our elected officials had to fit their year's accomplishments on the same kind of form with which millions of the rest of us are familiar? For President Bush, the results would not be encouraging.

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Knowledge of job: Below expectations. Despite describing himself as "the decider," employee often abdicated important decisions to others, as in his insistence that he could do nothing about prison conditions at Guantanamo Bay without judicial branch input.

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Job effectiveness: Below expectations, even his own, and not just in his controversial and poorly planned takeover of despotic foreign operation (also see previous evaluations). Confirmation of favored candidate for a top-level judicial branch appointment was a major achievement. But failed to rally support in legislative branch and among own partisans for positions on which he was in the right, such as his call for comprehensive immigration reform.

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Critical thinking skills: Meets expectations, which were low. Instead of building bridges to opponents within the legislative branch on foreign policy, he demonized them with this election-year rant: "The Democrat [sic] approach comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses." Failed to dismiss key architect of war until after Republicans were routed in midterm elections.

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Works well with others: Meets expectations. More successful at staking out common ground with headstrong allies of own party than at seeking out compromise with extra-party rivals who may actually be useful to policy goals. Needlessly provoked Democrats with renomination of partisan flame-thrower to major international body even after it was clear that nominee was unfit for the job. Unclear at the end of this performance period whether he will accept any advice from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

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Financial management: Exceeds expectations. Federal budget deficit is smaller than expected, though employee's insistence that this is a result of his tax cuts is unpersuasive. Also, after the election, indicated that he was open to fresh talks with Democrats about Social Security.

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Areas for improvement: New management in legislative branch will require considerable improvement in people skills, especially but not exclusively in identifying a "way forward" in Iraq. To borrow a phrase associated with one of employee's predecessors, present employee needs to adopt a "kinder, gentler" rhetorical style, one that acknowledges past mistakes and doesn't demonize those who think differently.


Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times

BayGBM:
The LA times is reasonably balanced. They gave AS a decent evaluation.


Job evaluation: Arnold Schwarzenegger
By almost every measure, it was a fine year for the governor.

December 31, 2006

GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger's year began with an apology and ended with a victory. In other words, it got better as it went along. His performance evaluation reflects his progress in several important areas.

Knowledge of job: Meets expectations. Employee was recently rehired to four-year term and appears to have settled into job. Has become more comfortable with company culture and the bounds of his authority following a shaky start. Has also come to develop a much better knowledge of the organization's goals, has embraced them as his own and has begun to lead.

Job effectiveness: Exceeds expectations. With colleagues in other branches of organization, produced landmark legislation to reduce greenhouse gases, placed on ballot and persuaded voters to approve unprecedented infrastructure bond measures, brokered low-cost prescription drug plan, opened debate on housing and healthcare issues.

Critical thinking skills: Exceeds expectations. Perceives political problems, navigates them to achieve policy objectives. Previous position involved rote learning and heavily rehearsed behavior; employee's ability to improvise and respond to conditions is a welcome surprise.

Works well with others: Exceeds expectations. Employee was hired after severely criticizing performance of predecessor in position and colleagues-to-be, but he abandoned adversarial approach and developed close working relationships with other branch leaders to produce substantive programs. Rapport with Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez has become exemplar for those holding his position. Has developed strategic dialogue with private enterprise, labor and other experts to solve some of organization's deepest problems. Has demonstrated outstanding teamwork and consensus-building skills. Exhibits little of the egocentricity for which he was known in previous positions.

Financial management: Below expectations. Produced competent budget. Failed to reduce structural budget deficit of over $5 billion. Persists in troublesome campaign finance practices, such as raising money from donors while bills affecting their interests await his signature or veto.

Areas for improvement: Must work harder to effect many of the financial controls for which he was first hired. Employee has committed to solving state's healthcare, prisons, budget deficit, redistricting and immigration problems — tasks that should be expected to keep him occupied through the first fiscal quarter.

Eyeball Chambers:

--- Quote from: 240 is Back on January 01, 2007, 06:58:56 PM ---Insert 4 responses from members attacking credibility of Los Angeles Times, but lacking any refuting of facts presented here.  Will deteriorate into a debate on how bad Clinton was, then a 911 thread.

--- End quote ---

HAHA DEAD ON!

Option D:

--- Quote from: 240 is Back on January 01, 2007, 06:58:56 PM ---Insert 4 responses from members attacking credibility of Los Angeles Times, but lacking any refuting of facts presented here.  Will deteriorate into a debate on how bad Clinton was, then a 911 thread.

--- End quote ---

LMAO...I know they hate that.

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