Late Response Quotes
Ideally problems of government would be prevented by good planning and anticipation. Once the political problem becomes evident, it is usually too late to resolve it well at reasonable cost. Machiavelli warned against waiting. However, he never imagined that a political problem would become evident, and the government officials or legislators would not deal with it and delay attempted resolution. However “kicking the can down the road” became very common in the latter part of the 20th century. By the beginning of the 21st century, the extreme political polarization of Congress had caused so much gridlock that almost no problem could be legislated upon, even well after it had been recognized.
This is one of the worst economics assessments in the nation's history. Hoover had been a very successful business man prior to his government experience, but good business experience has not been a good predictor of Presidential success. See {633214} for more on this point.
Oxfam, the international relief agency, had called a press conference to announce the critical starvation problem in the Sudan. Few reporters attended as controversial confirmation hearings for Secretary of Defense were ongoing and there were accusations that the nominee, former senator John Tower, was a womanizer and an alcohol abuser:
