Out in the real world, this is a very standard question. Bush’s answer shows (a) enormous contempt for the questioner, (b) contempt for the viewers who would like to hear the answer to the question, (c) a pathological aversion to looking back at his own performance, all coupled with (d) amazing arrogance.
Would you hire someone who gave you an answer like this during a job interview? There’s something very wrong with this guy.
[DeLong’s post has the full transcript from Friday night.]
Indeed, responding to the “what are your weaknesses” type question is something any successful candidate for a job will have practiced so that it can be turned into a positive — “I used to burn out from working too hard but have learned to pace myself now so that I stay consistently more productive.” Or, “I take my work too seriously and have had to learn sound stress management techniques.”
This was a likely question for Bush (he’d heard it before). Why can’t he answer it? Even if he wanted to use the bad appointments response (which is terribly pathetic coming from a leader), why not at least explain what he’d learned, which types of people not to appoint, etc.