You can definitely turn on a dime and with great credibility if you only will. If you are taking your platoon down the dusty pitted trail and you come upon the remains of the whole company of tried troops that went before and you see the grizzled old Sergeant, shot to shit, holding on to the sign post to the way ahead, feebly waving saying "Go Back, Go Back", you might ought to pay the Fk attention to him.
Learning from what didn't, doesn't and won't work is an important leadership skill.
Okay. Comparing a sleazy politician like Ted Wheeler to a "grizzled old Sergeant" who had been
through a hellacious battle. Interesting.
No. Actually was comparing Ted Wheeler to to a green 2nd Lt being sent in down the same road the last people tried to use. Sometimes, knowledge of what is ahead based on what came before is used to formulate a new plan, route or method of attack, ie, turn on a dime and make a new plan to accomplish goals, cause if it didn't work when tried over and over for a year, it's probably not going to work now. Try something else.
In this case, an experienced officer would not have taken this long to realize, the tactic being used was not up to the task at hand, no matter how much the touchy feely people liked it.