True, but after 7 years of Bush's aw shucks style of speaking, I've determined he sucks as a communicator.
Well, if you don't have the press on your side, you find other ways to get your message out. It takes more effort, but it can be done. Bush hasn't done squat in that respect.
Ronald Reagan was The Great Communicator. George W. Bush is The Grating Communicator. I have said in the past he is the most inarticulate President in the history of recorded sound, and I dare anyone to prove otherwise.
Given enough time to prepare, he can occasionally give an acceptable speech, but he rarely conducts press conferences, and it's clear why -- he has an inability to express his positions in expansive terms, something every other President in my lifetime -- right or wrong -- has been able to do. And he falls back on the same phrases; I will scream the next time I hear "It's hard work" or "folks who want to do us harm."
The smartest thing Bush has done lately is to hire Tony Snow, who, unlike Ari Fleischer or the inept Scott McClellan, can give as good as he gets from the WH press corps, even Helen Thomas. Bush isn't up to the task on his own. Everyone with a brain knows the news media isn't on conservatives' side. When you're the conservative in charge, you deal with it, not just throw up your hands and say "they won't listen."
Now that there is more than one person to choose from next Presidential election, I hope Republicans will have the good sense to nominate someone who sounds like he was able to earn a certificate from Toastmasters.