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Glenn,
I'm reminded of something Foucault said shortly before his death along the lines of "allow me the capacity to be human and to change my mind from time to time." I feel that people don't hold this quality to politicians and other public figures, and instead want to treat them like robots that live a life according to a constant and unwaivering personal precedent. That's not fair, and it's certainly not 'human.'
--BUT--
One has to admit, when changing a stance on an issue, how and why he/she was wrong before. This is what does NOT ever happen -- literally never happens -- in American public discourse. I see that as indicative of something much more tragic and, in a way, morose -- that there is something endemic to American culture, something about the majority of our collective and individual attitude(s, that doesn't allow us to openly admit when we are wrong. I see it daily and in all types of conversation; whether on television, in politics, or at the bus stop. It may not be uniquely American, but it's certainly an American quality. And it's the source of much ill, as far as I can tell.
Personally, I try as much as possible to admit when I'm wrong about something.
