This nonsense about open-mindedness and listening is just puerile psychobabble hiding stunning arrogance

Why doesn't George W Bush get along with his detractors? asks David Limbaugh. Because he doesn't listen to them? No; it is because the detractors

don't want to get along; they are implacable. They are entrenched. They are determined to obstruct. How much more so European liberals who distrust him on their own even without the persistent encouragement from their counterparts in America.

Friedman's mushy advice on the virtues of listening sounds just peachy, but underlying it is the presumption that President Bush has not considered the full spectrum of ideas on Iraq. It naively assumes that if he would just develop an open mind — not just open ears — he would inevitably change his foreign policy.

Why is it that liberals conclude that if you don't agree with them, you just don't have an open — or competent — mind? The answer is simply their stunning arrogance. The president would have to have lived in a cave not to have heard a thousand times all the arguments against his foreign policy.

But what if Mr. Bush followed Friedman's advice? What if he listened to the European ingrates but still didn't change his mind? Would that make them love him? No. They will only be satisfied, just like American liberals, if they are calling the shots: if Bush does exactly what they say. This nonsense about open-mindedness and listening is just puerile psychobabble.

…We're not playing in the sandbox, Mr. Friedman. Foreign policy is for adults.